Bangalore, Feb 27: BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa today claimed the central leadership had promised to reinstate him as chief minister after six months when he was asked to step down last year after the Lokayukta report on illegal mining indicted him.
“I did not aspire for the chief minister's post. Since the central leadership promised to reinstate me as chief minister after six months, I visited Delhi (on earlier occasions) to restore my lost chair,” he told a meeting here convened by the Backward Class Forum on the occasion of his 70th birthday.
Yeddyurappa, who was rebuffed by party chief Nitin Gadkari last week when he ruled out any change in leadership of Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, said he would not attend the BJP Core Committee meeting convened to resolve the issue of leadership change on March 3 in Delhi. “I will not go to Delhi asking for chief minister's chair ... I don't want it,” he said.
Instead of visiting Delhi, Yeddyurappa said, he would undertake a statewide tour to strengthen the party. “I want BJP to grow more stronger. I would work towards it,” he said.
Yeddyurappa, who had earlier set February 27 as the deadline for his reinstatement, said there was no question of him “deserting the party”, amid reports that he was toying with the idea of breaking away from the BJP.
Slamming opposition parties, Yeddyurappa said Congress and JDS had not stopped attacking him even after he was in jail.
“I was the first chief minister in the country to have stopped illegal mining in the state, and despite that the opposition parties are relentlessly attacking me,” he said.
Yeddyurappa said ‘he knew what all (illegal transactions) happened during different regimes. I do not want to go into those details.'
Criticising JDS leaders—former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy—Yeddyurappa said he would not allow BJP to join hands with father-son duo's party.
“I had kept Deve Gowda and his party away from the power of seat and I will continue to do so,” he said.
Yeddyurappa also flayed Governor H R Bhardwaj saying he had tried dislodging the BJP government thrice. “I will not bow to any kind of pressure from any quarter,” he said.
Attacking the opposition for writing him off as spent force following his imprisonment, Yeddyurappa said he would show his strength through his state-wide tour. “Soon I will start my statewide tour,” he added.
