Karnataka might face early assembly elections, former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa said on Wednesday, hours before hosting a high-powered wedding reception of his granddaughter.
Yeddyurappa, whose efforts to be reinstated have fallen flat so far, reaffirmed his clout in the BJP with several party heavyweights turning up for the reception of engineering graduate BU Apoorva.
Yeddyurappa, forced to step down in July last year after being indicted by the lokayukta on charges of corruption in a mining scam, greeted party president Nitin Gadkari, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley, leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha at the Palace Grounds here.
Chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda, whom Yeddyurappa is finding hard to dislodge, saw no politics in the reception and said he would attend. BJP state president KS Eshwarappa and Lok Sabha MP Ananth Kumar also attended the function.
Governor HR Bhardwaj, who had given the go-ahead for Yeddyurappa's prosecution, also attended the event.
Party veteran LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, and Murli Manohar Joshi are in the guest list and might attend the function which will continue on Thursday.
According to a source in the BJP, Yeddyurappa loyalists have plans to give a memorandum to Gadkari to solve “the problems persisting in the state unit of the party”.
{{/usCountry}}According to a source in the BJP, Yeddyurappa loyalists have plans to give a memorandum to Gadkari to solve “the problems persisting in the state unit of the party”.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier in the day, speaking at a BJP slum morcha executive, Yeddyurappa urged party workers to gear up for assembly elections in six months, probably along with Gujarat. Assembly elections are due in Gujarat by the year-end. Polls in Karnataka, however, are due in April-May 2013.
With inputs from agencies