By IANS,
Bangalore : Having weathered a political storm, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa seems busy these days either denying his combative statements or apologising to people for the mess in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) first government in the state.
He is also stoutly defending the record of his close associate, Shobha Karandlaje, who quit as rural development minister Monday as part of the deal with the dissidents to drop their demand for his removal.
The dissidents were led by the billionaire Bellary brothers — Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy and his elder brother and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy — who own iron ore mines.
On Tuesday, the chief minister said in Bangalore that some people were “exploiting the forest and mineral wealth”.
“They seem to think that this wealth is meant only for them. We are in a helpless situation,” Yeddyurappa said at a function to pay tribute to forest department personnel who had laid down their lives in the line of duty.
On Wednesday, he retracted the statement and told reporters in Chamarajnagar district, about 200 km from here, that the media had misquoted him.
He said the Reddy brothers and their loyalist and Health Minister B. Sriramulu were fully cooperating with him in running his government.
On Karandlaje, who held the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj portfolio, Yeddyurappa said “she had done good work”.
On the day she resigned he had said he was pained. “Honest work and service sometimes have no value in politics.”
Ever since the Reddy brothers launched an assault on his leadership on Oct 26, Yeddyurappa has not missed an occasion to apologise to the people of Karnataka.
Almost every day of his five-day stay in the national capital, Yeddyurappa reiterated that the people “would not forgive us” because he was busy settling party and government disputes while around a million flood-hit people waited for rehabilitation in north Karnataka.
He also shed tears during an interview to a TV channel when he realised he had no option but to drop his favourite minister Karandlaje to please the dissidents and keep his chair.
Yeddyurappa had already bowed to the dissidents and shunted out his principal secretary V.P. Baligar. “God will not forgive me for ditching people who trusted me,” he had said.
Facing condemnation from the opposition and media for “surrendering” to the money power of the Reddys, Yeddyurappa was apologetic. “Whether I like it or not, I have to obey the party high command,” he said.
Told he had capitulated under pressure, the chief minister turned combative. “Yeddyurappa is not a person who bows to money and muscle power.”
Yeddyurappa is so weighed down by political developments that he chose to skip Wednesday’s inaugural function of the Bangalore IT. Biz, an annual event showcasing developments in the IT sector.