You would think that the BJP in Karnataka would be sitting pretty. After all, it is the first southern state to have a BJP government without any tricky allies. And it was also a state where the BJP did extremely well in the recent Lok Sabha elections -- winning 19 out of 28 seats.
The reports of differences between Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and the powerful Reddy brothers of Bellary is causing the party concern. A rift is predictably denied.
Says dissident MLA Renukacharya: "There have been small differences. It will all be solved. There is no misunderstanding."
But the matter was considered serious enough for the party's state in charge, Arun Jaitley, to fly down to speak to leaders.
Says Karnataka Home Minister V S Acharya: "(There are) no differences. Our national leader has come. We have met them, all the ministers we have met them."
Most senior leaders, including the Chief Minister, turned out at the hotel where Jaitley was staying to speak to him. The Reddy brothers chose to go to Tirupati instead.
The party's Operation Lotus -- the winning away of MLAs from both the Congress and the JD(S) -- has seen to it that the BJP has a majority in the state, and it will take a lot to dislodge this government. But denting of the party's image cannot so easily be wished away.
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