Soon after in private conversations, many a MLA belonging to the BJP, not to mention even Ministers, started complaining about the centralization of powers in the Chief Minister�s office. His constant companion and prot�g�, Shobha Karandlaje, the lady in early forties, a first time MLA from one of the constituencies from Bangalore city, had also started drawing too much attention. Murmurs were that she had virtually become the ear and eye of the Chief Minister, and was enjoying more than tolerable powers, even at the cost of some senior ministers.

In confirmation of her growing clout, she was even appointed the Cabinet spokesperson, despite the presence of veteran BJP leaders in the Cabinet. It is another matter that as Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister with a Cabinet rank, as well as cabinet spokesperson, she started impressing many observers. Veteran journalists in fact, admitted that her handling of the Cabinet briefings were impressive.

Such praise only hurt many veteran ministers and MLAs further, especially when the latter were ignored and dismissed contemptuously by the Chief Minister, his Principal Secretary V.P.Baligar and Shobha. The problem for the senior ministers was that the trio was seen to be interfering in their portfolios too often for their own comfort.

Even as these complaints kept growing, another dimension to the simmering discontentment was the feeling that only lingayats, the community to which the Chief Minister belongs to, were being favoured. Yeddyurappa only added fuel to the fire by encouraging the lingayat Mutts and was seen too often in the company of their seers.

Meanwhile, the infamous Reddy brothers (Karunakara, Janardhan (both Cabinet Ministers) and Somashekara) and their man Friday, Sriramulu (also a Cabinet Minister) of Bellary, started feeling uncomfortable. The mining lords, who had acquired extra-ordinary clout using their money power recklessly (with the active support of BJP leadership at both state and central level) started getting the feeling that the Chief Minister was no more the friend they thought he was.

It was soon after the May 2008 Assembly elections, when BJP fell just a few seats short of majority, the Reddy brothers had got into the act. In a brazen display of subversion of all democratic values, they went about buying up elected MLAs from other parties, luring them with huge amounts and also promising to fund their re-elections. Yeddyurappa watched with glee as his strength went up to acquire a comfortable majority in the Assembly. The turn-coats were also rewarded with ministerships, by even removing hard core party members in a couple of instances.
Having acquired a majority, Yeddyurappa apparently started ignoring the Reddy brothers, and even ignored some of their pleas (both legitimate and illegitimate) concerning their district and their mining businesses. Reddys are known to have amassed wealth from their mining businesses both legitimately and illegitimately, encroaching upon huge tracts of mining land, though legally they have license over much smaller areas.

The stage was thus set for the crisis one witnesses now. However, the BJP�s crisis in the State is not confined only to the war between Yeddyurappa and Reddy brothers. The disenchantment with his style of functioning and dictatorial ways spreads across even those in the legislature party and Government, even among those who are not tied to the apron strings of the Reddys.

These legislators and ministers are equally if not more keen on seeing a change in leadership. Their ire is against the trio, Yeddyurappa, Shobha and IAS Officer Baligar, whom they see as having been their biggest impediment, for fulfillment of both their legitimate and illegitimate demands.

The problem for the BJP central leadership is therefore more complicated, as it is not just the demands of the Reddy brothers that have to be taken care of, but also the non-Reddy group who are determined to see the back of Yeddyurappa. This group includes even some senior party MPs both in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

For the party leadership which has experienced such problems before right from the mid-nineties, in Gujarat, later in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and more recently in Rajasthan, there is a sense of d�j� vu. It was a similar situation in Uttar Pradesh, when then Chief Minister Kalyan Singh went about according extra-ordinary clout and importance to another young woman, Kusum Rai, which saw his downfall ultimately and exit from the party.

In fact Yeddyurappa has done a Kalyan Singh by encouraging Shobha similarly, which has resulted in such large scale dissidence against him. Recently rumours started floating that he was thinking of promoting her to take over as the next Karnataka BJP President, the post which will fall vacant soon, following the present incumbent, D.V.Sadananda Gowda�s completion of his tenure. This was also one of the reasons for the dissidence exploding out in the open. The anti-Yeddyurappa lobby suddenly saw that if his plans were allowed to succeed their fate would be sealed, as the Chief Minister would be able to control both the Government and the State unit.

The party high command therefore has an unenviable task, in more ways than one. The central leadership from L.K.Advani downwards, has lost much of the moral authority they wielded in the last several months. The latest round of Assembly results have only added to their diminishing clout. With such shrinking clout and moral authority, it is not going to be easy for them to control either Yeddyurappa or the Reddy brothers. It is already being heard in Karnataka circles that the Chief Minister is in a threatening mood, if he is seen to be undermined in any manner by the high command. In fact in the past he has threatened to split the party more than once, when he found himself cornered, by some leaders like Party General Secretary Ananth Kumar and his followers.

On the other hand, the Reddy brothers are in a no mood to relent from their demand to get rid of Yeddyurappa. They see his continuation as a serious threat not only to their political existence, but more importantly their business interests. The High command is therefore concentrating on appeasing them by promising to protect their business interests in the coming weeks and months. One of it is to withdraw cases against them and to withdraw the tax on mine owners imposed recently to help revenue generation for the flood affected districts.

The Reddy brothers may even be temporarily appeased with such offers and made to withdraw their demand for the ouster of Yeddyurappa. However, what the high command will find it difficult to deal is the non-Reddy group opposed to Yeddyurappa�s continuation. This group has the silent support of Ananth Kumar, who has been lying low for some time now, though it is no secret that he has very little love lost for Yeddyurappa.

Meanwhile, the Reddy brothers who had extremely close relationship with the late Y.S.Rajashekara Reddy and his son, Jagan, now find themselves in a soup in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. In the last week or so, a series of notices and cases have been filed against them, by the Andhra Government, accusing them of encroaching land, shifting the State borders and indulging in huge illegal mining in the State.

The BJP Central leadership can guarantee nothing to the Reddy brothers when it comes to these cases staring at them and threatening to destroy their business.

For both the BJP and more so for Yeddyurappa, the Reddy brothers, whom they nurtured and profited from enormously, have virtually become a Frankenstein, threatening to end their Southern honeymoon sooner or later.
—ends.