More CM candidates sprout in Karnataka

BANGALORE: The all-important BJP state legislature party meeting will be held on Wednesday to elect its new leader even as the stand off between caretaker CM BS Yeddyurappa and BJP national general secretary Ananth Kumar camps continue. The meeting has been convened at 11 am.Meanwhile, the fight for the CM's post, which was confined to Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar till Tuesday evening, opened up as state BJP president K S Eshwarappa and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar entered the race in the last minute.According to sources, in a crafty move, Yeddyurappa, who is in no mood to see Shettar as his successor, is said to have thrown his weight behind Eshwarappa.On the other hand, the RSS is said to be backing Suresh Kumar for the CM's post in the absence of a consensus among warring groups. ''The race is still open and it could be anybody's game,'' says a BJP insider.Meanwhile, BJP national leader Rajnath Singh arrived in the evening followed by Arun Jaitley, who landed in Bangalore late in the night. The two started the process of eliciting views of both the groups.They are expected to hold parleys with the state leaders till the last moment and try to evolve a consensus.Earlier in the day, hectic activities were witnessed in rival camps holed up in hotels, both claiming to have the majority support.After his name was floated by the Kumar group for the CM's post, Shettar on Tuesday went about garnering support for himself. He shuttled between places meeting people, including Shivakumar Swamiji of Siddaganga Mutt, who commands influence among the dominant Lingayats. Interestingly, the caretaker CM also visited the seer in the morning.It is said that Shettar is trying to woo Lingayat MLAs from the Yeddyurappa camp through religious leaders of north Karnataka. Several MLAs have been reportedly contacted over phone by the swamis with a direction to back Shettar.A day after Lehar Singh held parleys with the party leaders, Bangalore North MP D B Chandregowda on Tuesday met L K Advani, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj in Delhi, urging them to honour Yeddyurappa's views.