The Chief Minister, who has been reportedly indicted by the Lokayukta in the illegal mining case, was fidgety through the day. Though he was in a pensive mood, he occasionally bantered and babbled with ministerial colleagues, in an apparent effort to hide his nervousness or to project himself as a confident man.
Unlike Monday, when Yeddyurappa was surrounded by a large number of ministers and the party legislators, only about six ministers, including Basavaraj Bommai, Lakshman Savadi, Murugesh Nirani, Umesh Katti, Renukacharya and Revu Naik Belamagi, were seen with him on Tuesday.
Yeddyurappa first held a meeting with State party president K S Eshwarappa and some ministers at his Dollar's Colony residence for about 15 minutes. After that, he attended a public function (Kargil Diwas) for about 10 minutes. There, he tendered an apology to the public saying: “I know you people are hurt with what’s happening in the State. I am sorry about it. But you must help me overcome the problems.”
From the venue, he called Home Minister R Ashoka to meet him at his home office. Yeddyurappa then arrived at his home office, where he met the public for fives minutes and received memoranda from them. To project himself as a person unperturbed by the pressure built on him by the party high command, he cracked a joke. He was again closeted with the ministers, this time for only less than five minutes.
He then entered Vidhana Soudha. But, instead of going to his chamber on the third floor, he walked into the committee room of the State Legislature on the first floor where he held a meeting with Speaker K G Bopaiah and PWD Minister C M Udasi on the construction work of the Suvarna Soudha in Belgaum for nearly 10 minutes. From there, he again went to his Dollar's Colony residence. Later, before leaving for Tirupati, he attended a public function.
'PM should resign'
However, the Chief Minister spoke with confidence to the media. He demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram should first resign following the 2G scam. "The Prime Minister is a noble man. But his role (in the 2G scam) is so big that he should resign now," he added.
He alleged that the Centre had been making baseless allegations against him to cover up its misdeeds. But people of the State are watching everything, he warned.
Asked about the demand for his resignation by Opposition parties, he said he will complete his five-year term “Why do you (media) talk like Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah? You do not ask me about development works taken up by my government."
He also said soon after the Lokayukta submits the report, he would go to Delhi and apprise the party leadership of its contents.
Seeks divine intervention
Chief Minister Yeddyurappa, who doesn’t fail to visit temples whenever he is in crisis, on Tuesday chose to visit Tirupati and offers prayers.
After spending half-a-day in the City, he got into a special aircraft along with ministers Basavaraj Bommai, V Somanna, Murugesh Nirani, Renukacharya, MLA Jeevaraj and D V Sadananda Gowda, MP, and left for Tirupati to offer prayers. The chief minister is expected to return to Bangalore around 9 am on Wednesday.