Congress snubs BS Yeddyurappa despite his praises for Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi: The Congress party on Monday gave signals that it did not intend to touch B S Yeddyurappa and his supporters even with a bargepole despite the former Karanataka Chief Minister praising party president Sonia Gandhi.

"Whatever is happening in Karnataka is their own matter. It's entirely the internal matter of BJP. They will cook their stew in their own juice. Congress party or party president does not require any certification.

As far as Karnataka is concerned, an atmosphere of internal dissension is there since the formation of the BJP government. We definitely hope that people of Karnataka will remember all this when elections happen there six months later," party spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters in New Delhi.

Yeddyurappa had on Sunday said that the Congress president always supported party members in trouble.

Tewari was responding to questions on Yeddyurappa praising Sonia Gandhi at a function on Sunday in Bangalore in which he said she and the Congress always supported party members in trouble, unlike the BJP.

That the Congress is wary of having anything to do with Yeddyurappa was also evident, when Ahmed Patel, political secretary to the Congress president, vehemently denied reports that a minister in the Karnataka government Shobha Karandlaje, known to be close to Yeddyurappa, met him on Monday morning.

Denying any dialogue with Yeddyurappa, Patel said he did not meet the BJP leader or any of his aides. Dismissing such reports as baseless, he also said that no one has contacted him for a meeting with him or with the Congress president. "We do not believe in splitting others' parties," he said.

Meanwhile, Yeddyurappa has said he has temporarily postponed his decision to resign from the Karnataka Assembly membership.

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