BJP leader BS Yediyurappa resigned as Karnataka Chief Minister on Monday. This comes a day after his government completed two years in office.
Now with Yediyurappa’s resignation, the guessing game is on. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Karnataka BJP in-charge Arun Singh are likely to be two central observers for Karnataka, as per the sources.
But he will remain caretaker CM as his party decides on a replacement. As a decision on the same could take two or three days.
Thanking PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and JP Nadda, Mr Yediyurappa said that he had decided to resign some time back. “I thought it best to resign today as we mark the completion of two years in this term in Karnataka,” he told reporters.
Yediyurappa, Karnataka and BJP
In his speech, he said, “When (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) was Prime Minister he asked me to be a minister at the Centre. But I said I will be in Karnataka.”
The BJP had grown in Karnataka, he further added. “It has always been an agnipariksha (trial by fire) for me. These last two years it was Covid.”
His resignation was however widely anticipated but Mr Yediyurappa kept everyone guessing till now.
The last week saw many appeals to the BJP in Yediyurappa’s favour like party loyalists, priests and influential members of his Lingayat community of Karnataka, including an opposition Congress leader.
“I have decided that I will work till the very last minute. I already said two months ago that I was ready to resign whenever I was asked to; will say it again – until now I have got no message from the centre. As soon as it comes, if they ask me to continue I will. If not, I will resign and work for that party,” he said.
But there is no denying that Yediyurappa has been a figure key in the party’s rise in Karnataka.
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