Bangalore:
The crisis within the Karnataka BJP continues. The central leader in charge of Karnataka, Arun Jaitley, spent Thursday meeting with MLAs and party leaders to try and sort out the hostilities between the Chief Minister, BS Yeddyurappa and the powerful Reddy brothers of Bellary. (Read: BJP fights itself in Karnataka)
The Bellary mining barons - the Reddy brothers and their friend Sriramulu - are continuing to fire verbal salvos from north Karnataka at chief minister Yeddyurappa. One of the brothers and a minister in the Yeddyurappa Cabinet, Janardhan Reddy said: "We need new leadership - that is our demand."
But the chief minister has tried to maintain that all is well within the ruling BJP. "I am saying that nobody is against anybody else. We are all together. You are not convinced by this," he said.
But the very presence of Arun Jaitley in Bangalore, and the day-long meetings he held, was indication that there was a need for peace talks.
"Let our party and the government run properly - whatever action we need to take, we will take," Jaitley said, when asked about fissures in the party.
Others have also tried to play the crisis down. Like minister Basavaraj Bommai, who said: "Rumours rise in the morning and die down in the evening."
Among those rumours is talk of a change of leadership and that the Speaker Jagdish Shettar will be asked to take over. But Bommai said: "Arun Jaitley made it very clear yesterday that nobody has asked for the change, so there is no change."
It is, however, clear that there is no bridging the two factions in the Karnataka BJP just yet. Negotiations are still on - this is the only BJP government in south India and every effort is being made by the central leadership to keep it intact.