A 1,001 steps is what Shobha Karandlaje climbed for Yeddy to become CM

Bengaluru, July 19: BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje, considered as a B S Yeddyurappa loyalist, climbed 1001 steps of Sri Chamundeshwari Devi Temple in Mysuru this morning, apparently to pray that BSY becomes the next chief minister of Karnataka.

BSY-Karandlaje share a strong political bond. Time and again both have come to each others' support. Yeddyurappa hails Karandlaje as a popular leader. In May this year, Yeddyurappa pitched for a ministerial position for Shobha Karandlaje at the Centre.

Reports had surfaced last year that Yeddyurappa has been pushing for Shobha Karandlaje to be made next state BJP chief.

She was panchayati raj and rural development minister in B S Yediyurappa's cabinet in 2009.

Meanwhile, the political drama in the state assembly is heading for a climax as the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka will have to prove majority on the floor of the assembly on Friday by 1:30 pm as per Governor's direction.

BJP Karnataka president B S Yeddyurappa had vehemently protested when the assembly was adjourned yesterday, as he wanted it on Thursday itself.

The trust vote is necessitated by mass resignation of 16 legislators earlier this month that plunged the H D Kumaraswamy-led government into deep turmoil and it has been lurching from one crisis to another since then.

Governor Vajubhai Vala had sent a letter, his second on the trust vote, to Kumaraswamy on Thursday setting a 1.30 pm deadline on Friday to prove his government's majority in the assembly.