Express News Service By

BJP president Rajnath Singh on Thursday accepted the Karnataka unit’s suggestion that he extend a formal invitation to B S Yeddyurappa to return to the party. With this development, it is certain the Karnataka Janata Party leader, who angrily broke off from the BJP last year, will soon retrace his steps.

“Rajnath Singh will initiate the process of bringing Yeddyurappa back within next few days. He gave us this assurance after we explained to him the need to prevent a split of anti-Congress votes in the Lok Sabha elections,” Prahlad Joshi, BJP state president, told reporters on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, senior party leaders Ananth Kumar, K S Eshwarappa and Aravinda Limbavali, besides Joshi, held detailed talks with Rajnath Singh in Delhi.

The four leaders had met and chalked out their strategy at Ananth Kumar’s house before meeting Rajnath Singh.

Rajnath Singh will place the suggestion before the BJP Parliamentary Board before extending an invitation to Yeddyurappa.

“Being a national party, we have to follow procedures. The issue will have to be discussed by the BJP state core committee too. These processes will be completed in the next few days,” former minister Aravind Limbavali said.

The party wants the process to be completed before the BJP state executive meeting in Bangalore two weeks from now.

Asked about the corruption charges against Yeddyurappa, Limbavali said none of them had been proved.

Although Yeddyurappa has been repeatedly asserting that his party would never merge with the BJP, political observers believe it is his way of forcing the BJP to accept his demands.

Only last week, Yeddyurappa reiterated he would be happy to be a part of the NDA but had not idea of returning to the BJP.

BJP sources said Yeddyurappa was demanding the position of leader of opposition in the Assembly as a condition to return to the party.

He also wants staunch loyalists such as Shobha Karandlaje and V Dhananjaya Kumar rewarded with powerful positions in the party.

However, Yeddyurappa’s confidante Shobha Karandlaje maintained the KJP would like to maintain a separate identity.

“We would like to be a part of the NDA while retaining our identity. We are yet to get a formal invitation from the BJP,” she said.

The KJP’s executive committee is meeting on Monday, and will take a decision on today’s developments, she told reporters.