New Delhi, Nov 22: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa today maintained his defiance, claiming that nobody in the party has asked him to resign as he met senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley.
After ignoring summons by party leadership for two days, Yeddyurappa arrived here in the evening and met with 17 MPs from the state supporting him in an apparent display of strength.
Later, he had a one-on-one meeting with Jaitley at the residence of state MP Prabhakar Kore ahead of his meeting with party President Nitin Gadkari tomorrow.
"Nobody has asked me to resign," he told reporters here on arrival when asked whether he would be quitting as the BJP leadership wanted him to go.
But, after the meeting with Jaitley when asked whether he was resigning, he said significantly, "I will not comment on speculation."
The Chief Minister, who was to come here yesterday and was expected this morning, chose to go to Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh for participating in birthday celebrations of Sai Baba. In the evening, he came to Delhi with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by his special aircraft.
On the charges of irregularities in land allotment favouring his family members, Yeddyurappa said a judicial inquiry was already on in the matter.
Top party leaders, including L K Advani, M M Joshi and Rajnath Singh, who met here yesterday are understood to have decided that the Chief Minister's continuance has become untenable and that he should be told to make way.
The Chief Minister has, however, kept the party guessing on his moves.
Yeddyurappa has reportedly told the party leadership that his removal might harm the first ever BJP government in the South, for whose formation he had played a key part.
Some senior leaders, speaking on the condition of anonymity, however, dismissed suggestions that he can bring down the government.
Yeddyurappa has earlier deputed a team of his loyalists, including Home Minister R Ashok, a prominent Vokkaliga leader, Higher Education Minister V S Acharya, a probable to replace the Chief Minister in the event of his exit, and some others to Delhi to persuade the party against change in leadership. PTI
