By Team Mangalorean Bangalore

New Delhi/Bangalore, Nov 8: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday not only resolved the crisis in its first government in Karnataka but also became the first major political party in the country to set up a sort of oversight panel over its own government.

The party has proposed a coordination committee, likely to be headed by senior leader Sushma Swaraj, to ensure that all major decisions of the Karnataka government are 'unanimous'. 

The recourse to the committee was taken to buy peace with dissidents in Karnataka who had launched a campaign to remove Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa for his alleged dictatorial functioning style and ignoring ministers not close to him. 

The campaign was led by Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy and his elder brother and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy, both billionaire iron ore mine owners from Bellary who are close to Sushma Swaraj. 

The Karnataka committee will have representatives from the rival factions. All these days coordination committees were set up by coalition governments. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP had such a committee. 

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance had one during its previous rule at New Delhi. The Left Front government in West Bengal also has a coordination committee. The NDA and UPA set up these committees to resolve differences as the alliances were made of a large number of parties. 

BJP resolves Karnataka muddle, Sushma to play key role

New Delhi/Bangalore, Nov 8 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party Sunday ended the two-week-old crisis in its first government in Karnataka by assigning a key role in the state affairs to senior party leader Sushma Swaraj in return for dissidents dropping their demand for removal of Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.

"From now onward Sushma Swaraj will play a lead role in solving any dispute in the government," a legislator close to dissident leader and Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy told IANS on phone from Hyderabad where dozens of rebel legislators have been staying for nearly ten days now. 

Asked whether another senior leader Arun Jaitley has been divested of Karnataka charge, the legislator, requesting he be not named, said: "He too will be there but Sushmaji would play the lead role." 

Janardhana Reddy gave full credit to Sushma Swaraj for ending the impasse that has paralysed the 18-month old Yeddyurappa ministry for the past two weeks. 

She is expected to be formally named soon as head of the coordination panel that will include representatives of the two factions to ensure that Yeddyurappa does not take any decisions without the consent of Janardhana Reddy and his brother and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy. 

Soon after Sushma Swaraj announced in New Delhi that "Karnataka issue has been resolved peacefully," Janardhana Reddy said: "We have agreed to the advice of our 'thayi' (mother) Sushma Swaraj." 

"We cannot go against the word our 'thayi'," Janardhana Reddy said, though he thanked other senior BJP leaders also for their effort to resolve the dispute. 

Yeddyurappa said, "There are no issues now. We will work together." 

He also said "It was not a question of victory or defeat", when asked who had bent to end the crisis. 

Yeddyurappa has agreed to several demands of the Reddys. 

He has already shunted out his Principal Secretary V.P. Baligar and agreed to drop from the cabinet his close associate and the lone woman minister Shobha Karandlaje, who holds rural development and panchayat raj portfolio. 

Yeddyurappa has also agreed to make assembly Speaker Jagadish Shettar, whom the dissidents were projecting as alternative leader, a cabinet minister. 

There was speculation that the Reddy brothers have demanded sacking of at least six other ministers to accommodate their supporters and secure plum portfolios like home, forests, mines and environment. 

After the announcement, Sushma Swaraj, Yeddyurappa and Janardhana Reddy went to senior party leader L.K. Advani's house to greet him on his birthday. 

Yeddyurappa and Janardhana Reddy fed a piece of cake to each other in a show of camaraderie. 

Reddy loyalist and Health Minister B. Sriramulu, party general secretary and Bangalore South Lok Sabha member H.N. Ananth Kumar were present. 

The Yeddyurappa ministry was paralysed for the past two weeks with Janardhana Reddy and his elder brother and Revenue Minister G. Karunakara Reddy launching a campaign for his removal. 

After Arun Jaitley's three-day effort in Bangalore in last week of October failed to resolve the dispute, Yeddyurappa and the Reddy brothers were called to New Delhi for talks with central leaders. 

Yeddyurappa was in Delhi since Wednesday while Janardhana Reddy stayed there from Tuesday to Friday and returned late Saturday after talks with ministers and legislators supporting him and his brother's campaign to oust Yeddyurappa. 

These legislators and ministers were lodged in a luxury hotel in Hyderabad for nearly 10 days to prevent Yeddyurappa camp from weaning them away. 

The Reddys are rich iron ore mine owners and hence the reported keenness for forests, mines and environment portfolios. 

Yeddyurappa, however, has maintained he would not drop any minister other than Shobha Karandlaje. 

In the May 2008 polls, the BJP won 110 of the 224 elected seats in the 225-member assembly. It formed the government with the help of six Independents, five of whom have been rewarded with ministerial posts. The Reddys are believed to have won over the Independents using their financial clout. 

Later, the Reddys also lured more than half a dozen Congress and Janata Dal-Secular legislators to the BJP, giving the party its majority in the assembly and reducing the government's dependence on the Independents. 

Quiet birthday for Advani

New Delhi, Nov 8 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran L.K. Advani turned 82 on a quiet note Sunday, meeting well wishers at home - but not attending any political functions - on what could be his last birthday as leader of opposition. President Pratibha Patil sent him a bouquet and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh greeted him.

It was a marked change from last year when Advani on this day launched a website virtually heralding his campaign for prime ministership - an effort that proved unsuccessful.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also greeted him, while in the evening senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitely, Rajnath Singh, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and state Tourism Minister G. Janardhana Reddy called on him at his house.

"Advaniji is meeting people at home. But no political function has been organised by the party on the day," said a party spokesperson wishing to remain anonymous.

For Advani, 2009 could have been the most important year of his political journey. But after the debacle his party faced at the hands of the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections as well as in state polls later, followed by a mutiny of sorts by BJP leaders against his authority, Advani has been keeping a low profile.

Advani was born Nov 8, 1927, in Karachi, now in Pakistan. He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1942 at the young age of 15. He was soon to take part in active politics, joining the Bharatiya Jan Sangh (the precursor to the BJP) in 1951.

He held various positions in the government 1977 onwards, becoming union minister for information and broadcasting that year in the Morarji Desai-led Janata government. He became home minister in 1998 and was deputy prime minister between 1999 and 2004 in the cabinet of then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Rumours are now rife that Advani will soon hang up his boots as leader of opposition. 

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