Supporters of Yeddyurappa backtracking him as KJP President game plan of getting some more BJP MLAs to quit seems to have fizzled out.
Yeddyurappa was keen that five to six BJP MLAs including some ministers would offer to quit putting the very survival of the government at stake. However, that was not to be. Some of his loyalists including excise minister M P Renukacharya, Ramappa Lamani, C C Patil and Srishailappa Bidarur (all MLAs) have decided to stay with the BJP.
Getting an indication of the dwindling numbers, Yeddyurappa told reporters on the sidelines of a function that he has no intention to topple the Shettar government and indicated he was not averse to presentation of budget by it on February 8.
Lamani made an open announcement in his home constituency Shirahatti on Sunday that he has no intention of quitting the BJP and joining the KJP.
If sources in the BJP are to be believed, it would be difficult for Yeddyurappa to keep his initial group intact. A senior functionary said only around seven to eight MLAs of the 13 would keep their word and resign.
Yeddyurappa said if he had indeed wanted the collapse of the government, he would have done it on December 9 itself by getting BJP MLAs, who shared stage with him at the formal launch of his party, resign.
On the charge that he is pulling out MLAs from the BJP to prevent Shettar from presenting the budget, Yeddyurappa said he never had that intention.
Later in the evening, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, party State president K S Eshwarappa, senior leaders D V Sadananda Gowda and Ananth Kumar met and decided to take Yeddyurappa head-on, sources said.