Karnataka: Yeddyurappa supporters step up campaign

Bangalore: With BJP central leadership commencing the exercise to appoint a new chief for the party's Karnataka unit, supporters of former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, a keen aspirant for the job, on Thursday stepped their campaign in support of their leader. Supporters of Yeddyurappa on Thursday met at the residence of Public Works Minister C M Udasi and took stock of the developments and the thinking of the party high command over naming a successor to K S Eswarappa, who has joined the Jagadish Shettar ministry. Udasi, refusing to divulge the details of discussions, held at his house, however said, "The issue of appointing new president will be decided by high command leaders and not me."

Eswarappa, participating in the BJP national executive underway at Surajkund in Haryana, has said the party would choose a new President for the state unit in a day or two. Excise Minister M P Renukacharya, a hardcore supporter of Yeddyurappa, sought to raise the pitch saying the former Chief Minister was a "mass leader and should not be confined to lingayat community". According to sources, at the meeting Yeddyurappa loyalists decided to tour various parts of the state to drump up people's support for their leader.

Yeddyurappa, who has been sulking over being sidelined in the party after being forced to quit as Chief Minister last year, has boycotted the party national executive and is undergoing body rejuvenation treatment at the Art of Living Nature Cure Centre here. With the BJP taking on the UPA on the issue of corruption, the central leadership is said to be not in favour of making Yeddyurappa, battling a spate of corruption cases, Karnataka unit President ahead of next year assembly elections.

The BJP central leadership will soon appoint a new chief for the party\'s Karnataka unit.

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