BJP meet on Karnataka: will Jagadish Shettar be CM?

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party core group meet began on Saturday in the national capital to take stock of the political situation in Karnataka. The issue of leadership change is likely to figure in the discussions at the party president Nitin Gadkari's residence.

This comes after former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa had raised the banner of revolt demanding the removal of chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda. Yeddyurappa has backed the candidature of his loyalist Jagadish Shettar for the Chief Ministership.

Meanwhile, Gowda has left for the national capital.

Yeddyurappa was forced to step down as the Chief Minister in August, 2011. Thereafter, he made many attempts to get Gowda removed from the Chief Minister's post claiming the support of many MLAs.

Sadananda Gowda had hinted on Wednesday that his exit might be imminent, even as he sought to highlight the achievements of his 11-month rule.

The party's central leaders have told warring factions that a decision on leadership issue would be taken in the next four-five days, Gowda told reporters after meeting members of the public at his home-office "Krishna" on Wednesday.

The Sadananda Gowda government had plunged into a crisis last week after a fresh bout of rebellion erupted with nine ministers from the Yeddyurappa camp submitting their resignations which they, however, withdrew after the central leadership stepped in.

Members of the Yeddyurappa faction, including CM Udasi, Murugesh Nirani and Basavaraja Bommai, who had been vigorously pushing for the candidature of Jagadish Shettar to replace Gowda returned from New Delhi and held consultations with Yeddyurappa at his residence.

Though the party had earlier indicated that the leadership change was expected to take place after the July 19 Presidential poll, the sources said this has been advanced by a few days in view of the Karnataka Assembly session commencing on July 16.

(With additional information from PTI)

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