Yeddyrappa formally launches Karnataka Janata Party
Haveri: Karnataka’s former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa On Sunday formally launched Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) and took over as its President at a massive rally here in North Karnataka.
Ahead of the launch of KJP, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar had on Saturday cracked the whip sacking Cooperative Minister B J Puttaswamy, a loyalist of Yeddyurappa, from the cabinet with BJP also suspending another staunch supporter and Tumkur MP G S Basavaraj from the party. Both were issued show cause notices.
Yeddyurappa said BJP should understand that the Shettar government survived on the support of his loyalists.
“If they (BJP) want the continuance of this government, which is nothing but a KJP-BJP coalition, they should desist from taking any disciplinary action against my supporters,” he said.
The action against Yeddyurappa’s supporters on Saturday came a day after 23 legislators and seven ministers attended the breakfast meet hosted by him in Belgaum, in an expression of solidarity with the Lingayat strongman who quit the BJP on November 30, snapping his 40-year-association with the party.
