Nagpur:
Senior BJP leader LK Advani has been on the road for eight days now, taking his
yatra and strong anti-UPA, anti-corruption message from state to state. Only, the arrest of former Karnataka Chief Minister and partyman BS Yeddyurappa on corruption charges is playing spoilsport.
After cancelling two press conferences in Madhya Pradesh since the arrest of Mr Yeddyurappa, Mr Advani today admitted that the BJP could not win the battle of perception without putting its own house in order. He said, "We never take any party weakness lightly and we proved the same in Karnataka. We had cautioned them in advance but when the Lokayukta report came out, he had to resign immediately. We are fully aware of the fact that no party can effectively win the confidence of the people against the present corruption of the Congress party if its own house is bedevilled with similar weaknesses."
Continuing to target the UPA government on corruption, Mr Advani said, "The results of by-polls are significant, and a reflection of UPA 2's inability to govern. It is the writing on the wall, electorate's warning to the government".
In Bangalore today, the High Court adjourned Mr Yeddyurappa's bail plea till Thursday. The BJP strongman is currently in the Intensive Care Unit of Bangalore's Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, where he was shifted after complaining of chest pain, hours after after a Lokayukta court sent him to jail till October 22, Saturday next, in a land scam case.
Other senior leaders in the BJP seem to have taken their Yeddyurappa cue from Mr Advani.
"There is no place in the BJP for those who want to indulge in corruption, they are not welcome," party president Nitin Gadkari said.
"The BJP Parliamentary Board took a decision the moment Lokayukta report came that he (Yeddyurappa) must resign," said BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The timing of Mr Yeddyuruppa's arrest could not be worse for the BJP coming as it does a week into the
yatra.
The party is in a clear dilemma - should it back the Lingayat leader, its tallest Southern figure? Or keep him at a distance? Their only defence: Mr Yeddyurappa was asked to step down.
"BJP adopts a zero tolerance towards corruption. When the Lokayukta report came out in Karnataka, BJP took its decision not in days, but in hours," party spokesperson Shannawaz Hussain said.