Bangalore:
Embarrassed over the very public rift within its top leadership over Karnataka's 'tainted' Bellary brothers, party president Nitin Gadkari today stepped in to do damage control.
In a statement, Mr Gadkari clarified that the choice of inducting the mining magnate duo from Bellary - Janardhana Reddy and Karunakara Reddy - as ministers in the state government was "unanimous".
"It is the considered position of the BJP that all our cabinet ministers in the Karnataka government are the unanimous choice of the party. There is absolutely no question of any individual or individuals influencing this process in any particular manner", Mr Gadkari said.
The party president's clarification came after a flurry of statements by top leaders of the BJP - starting with Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj - over who was responsible for inducting the mining magnate duo from Bellary - Janardhana Reddy and Karunakara Reddy - as ministers in the state.
The blame game within the party also prompted the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to come out and say that it was "unhappy about this kind of news in the media".
Almost sounding out a warning to the BJP to set its house in order, the RSS said, "This is the party's internal matter and if something wrong has happened, it should be rectified."
It all began when Ms Swaraj, reacting to reports that she backed the Reddys politically, blamed senior leader and her counterpart in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, for their inclusion in the government.
In an interview to a magazine, Ms Swaraj said, "I have no hand in the political making of Bellary brothers...I had nothing to do with making them ministers or building up their stature as political leaders...When the Bellary brothers were made ministers, Jaitleyji (Arun Jaitley) was the prabhari (in charge) and Yeddyurappa was CM. I was opposed to their appointment as ministers but they (Jaitley, Yeddyurappa, Ananth Kumar) had some political compulsions."
The statement, which immediately sparked off rumours of a rift between Ms Swaraj and Mr Jaitley, was sought to be downplayed by former party president Rajnath Singh.
Accepting responsibility for the inclusion of the Bellary brothers in the Karnataka cabinet, Mr Singh said, "The decision was taken after my consent. Therefore, it isn't right to say that Sushmaji or Arunji are responsible. My consent was taken because I was the party president at the time. If someone really wants to pin responsibility onto someone, then they can do it for me...News about rift between Sushmaji and Arunji is totally baseless."
Soon after, Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa stepped in to clarify that the decision to give ministerial berths to the Reddy duo was solely his.
"No one influenced us to make the Reddys ministers. We took them in our own wisdom," the Mr Yeddyurappa said.
Earlier this year, a report of the Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC) set up by the Supreme Court ruled that the Reddy brothers - Tourism Minister Janardhana Reddy and Minister for Revenue Karunakara Reddy - were running illegal mining activities in areas demarcated as Forest Areas since 2004. The committee also ruled that their mining licenses should be cancelled.
The thousands of crores generated every year by their Oballapuram mines have allowed the Reddy brothers to pack a heavy punch in the political ring in Karnataka.