By IANS,
New Delhi/Bangalore: Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa arrived in New Delhi late Sunday to meet his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Yeddyurappa’s meeting with party leaders Monday will be against the backdrop of a large group of state BJP lawmakers complaining to state unit chief K.S. Eshwarappa against the chief minister’s style of functioning and corruption charges against him.
On arrival in New Delhi, Yeddyurappa, however, told reporters that the state unit was united and there was no dissidence against him.
Eshwarappa had Saturday acknowledged that he had received complaints from party legislators against the chief minister during a meeting he had with over 50 of them in Bangalore Wednesday.
To counter their move, Yeddyurappa Friday called a meeting of party legislators but only around 50 of the 107 (including the speaker) showed up.
The Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) Saturday levelled allegations that two firms managed by Yeddyurappa’s sons had received Rs.13 crore as kickbacks from a company for allotting a Rs.1,032-crore irrigation project.
Before leaving for New Delhi, Yeddyurappa told reporters that the irrigation project was sanctioned by JD-S state president H.D. Kumaraswamy when he was the chief minister. Yeddyurappa was his deputy in the short-lived coalition in 2006-07.
The chief minister said his Delhi visit “is to discuss pending projects with several central ministers and to urge prime minister to grant special status to north Karnataka region”.
The prime minister has given time for a meeting Tuesday, Yeddyurappa said.