Karnataka ministers asked to withdraw resignation

Bangalore: On a mission to resolve the latest crisis starring the BJP Government, the central party leadership's emissary Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday asked the nine Ministers loyal to BS Yeddyurappa to withdraw their resignations which has thrown the DV Sadananda Ministry into turmoil.

"I ask all nine ministers to withdraw their resignations to pave the way to resolve the leadership issue," Pradhan, in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka, told reporters at the state RSS headquarters before leaving for New Delhi.

Pradhan said he would apprise the party central leadership of the consultations he held with the two warring factions of Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda and his predecessor Yeddyurappa who is insisting on a change of guard.

He said he was hopeful that the party central leadership would resolve the issue. "I will discuss with central leaders and hope a good decision will be taken by them," he said.

At the end of his hectic consultations within the BJP, Pradhan today met RSS leaders and briefed them about the situation brought about by the resignation of nine ministers to put pressure on BJP central leadership to remove Gowda.

With both factions crossing swords, Pradhan was deputed as the central emissary to defuse the crisis.

Yeddyurappa, whose earlier attempts to secure chief minister's post failed, has been targeting Gowda, a loyalist-turned foe, seeking his removal and projecting Minister Jagadish Shettar as the alternative.

The party central leadership had yesterday summoned Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda to New Delhi to resolve the crisis. He expected to be in Delhi on July 2.

The summons came hours after the turmoil in the BJP state unit showed no signs of abating as the BS Yeddyurappa camp stuck to its one-point agenda of ousting Gowda.

A day after nine Yeddyurappa loyalist-Ministers quit precipitating the crisis, Gowda expressed confidence of resolving it with the intervention of the party's central leadership.

State BJP President KS Eshwarappa, who met Gowda, said there was no question of accepting the resignations.