Yeddyurappa warms up to BJP, attacks Cong in House

Bangalore, July 16: From his main objective of unseating the BJP government in Karnataka, former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa seems to be coming the full-circle as he trained his guns on ruling Congress today.

The state assembly witnessed a growing bonhomie between Yeddyurappa, who walked out of BJP and formed his own outfit Karnataka Janata Paksha last year, and his erstwhile party.

"We have made a mistake. Because of our mistake, people of the state have elected a Congress government even though they did not want it. We have learnt our lessons. In coming Lok Sabha elections, we will reduce you to 7-8 seats (out of 28 in Karnataka) and work out a plan and programme to sit there (in treasury benches). Please have patience", he said.

He was reacting to former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar's teaser on how people can forget what BJP did when it was in power (referring to infighting and corruption).

Yeddyurappa's comments were seen as warming up of his relations with BJP which secured a mere 40 seats in the 224-member assembly in the May 5 elections.

KJP bagged six seats but the main plot was that its nearly ten per cent vote share dented BJP's prospects in many constituencies in no small measure with Congress being the chief beneficiary in the multi-cornered contests.

In the afternoon, Yeddyurappa expressed dismay over virtually empty treasury benches and the gallery meant for officials when former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar was speaking on budget discussions and accused Congress of lacking interest in the proceedings and staged a walk-out.

BJP members joined him in the protest.

BJP spokesman and MLA, C T Ravi, reacting to Yeddyurappa's statement, said "at bad times, we separated. What's wrong in uniting again in good times?".

He welcomed Yeddyurappa's statement saying it summed up the necessity for a united front against Congress-led UPA.

A section of BJP is pushing for the return of Yeddyurappa into the party-fold.

Meanwhile, there is also talk that BSR Congress, headed by former Minister B Sriramulu, who also broke away from BJP, is knocking at the door of the party for merger.

PTI