BS Yeddyurappa bonds with Congress

BELGAUM: Even before quitting the BJP, former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa appears to have started bonding with the Congress.
Unmindful of the presence of his partymen, Yeddyurappa preferred to share a table for lunch with opposition leaders in both Houses of the legislature Siddaramaiah and S R Patil, Union minister of state for railways K H Muniyappa and Congress MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa soon after President Pranab Mukherjee delivered his address to legislators after inaugurating the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha.
On the dais, three tables had been arranged. While one table was occupied by Mukherjee, Governor H R Bhardwaj, chief minister Jagadish Shettar and presiding officers of the legislature K G Bopaiah and D H Shankaramurthy, others had Union ministers Mallikarjuna Kharge, M Veerappa Moily and MP N Dharam Singh. Yeddyurappa chose to sit with the Congress leaders.
This public display of affection for the Congress did not end there. The former chief minister also made an oath before the newly inaugurated Soudha. "I swear on this Suvarna Soudha that I will quit BJP and float a new political outfit. My party will contest all 224 assembly seats in the next elections. I am not compelling any legislator to join my party now, but once this government completes its term many from different political parties will join my party," Yeddyurappa said.
Foes sit together
Former chief ministers DV Sadananda Gowda and BS Yeddyurappa were seated next to each other in the legislative assembly in Suvarna Vidhana Soudha. Though both of them did not speak to each other, Yeddyurappa shared some dry fruits with Gowda. Yeddyurappa was also flanked on the other side by another political rival, H D Kumaraswamy. The Lingayat strongman, who had attacked the JD(S) before the function, saying father-son duo (HD Deve Gowda-Kumaraswamy ) would be routed in the coming assembly elections, shared dry fruits with Kumaraswamy too.