Deadlock continues on succession plan after BSY's departure

Bangalore, Aug 1: Deadlock continued in the ruling BJP in Karnataka over finding a successor to B S Yeddyurappa, whose exit as Chief Minister has triggered an intense power struggle in the party.

After failing to build consensus on the leadership issue, the party central observers Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh last night deferred a legislature party meeting to August three where a new leader is slated to be formally elected.

After stepping down, Yeddyurappa went public saying former state unit President D V Sadananda Gowda is his choice but it was simply not acceptable to the rival side led by senior leader H N Ananth Kumar and state unit chief K S Eshwarappa.

The anti-Yeddyurappa camp is plumping for Jagadish Shettar, also a former state unit President who comes from the dominant Lingayat community to which Yeddyurappa also belongs to. He is not acceptable to Yeddyurappa.

Yeddyurappa resigned yesterday ending his defiance three days after the party central leadership issued a directive to him to step down in the wake of his indictment by Lokayukta Santosh Hegde in his report on illegal mining.

"I am a contender (for the Chief Minister's post)", Shettar told reporters here today. "BJP MLAs have expressed a wish that I should become Chief Minister", an indication that the BJP high command has a tough task on hand.

PTI