Sushma

New Delhi, Nov. 2: Sushma Swaraj will be coaxing her “sons” from Bellary with a box of offers to try and pull the BJP out of the Karnataka crisis.

A high-level meeting at L.K. Advani’s home tonight asked Sushma to deal with the Reddy brothers and offer them a three-point settlement.

Sushma, deputy leader of the Lok Sabha Opposition, has been associated with the Reddys since she contested an election from Bellary in 1999 against Sonia Gandhi. Even now, she makes it a point to perform a Varalakshmi Puja every year at the Reddys’ ancestral home.

The brothers —— ministers Janardhana and Karunakara and MLA Somashekhara —publicly extolled Sushma as their “mother” after their own mother died four years ago.

“Let’s see how mother Sushma brings her errant sons around,” a BJP leader said.

The offers to the Reddys, BJP sources said, would be:

Chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa will drop minister and confidante Shobha Karandlaje, who has put off many MLAs and ministers, as well as home minister V.S. Acharya

A co-ordination mechanism will be worked out for transfers and postings, with the panel including ministers from both sides of the divide as well as central leader Ananth Kumar. Some transfers in Bellary will be revoked

The cess imposed on trucks travelling to flood-hit areas including Bellary will be revoked

Earlier today, the Reddys and their supporters met Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar in Delhi and made it clear that Yeddyurappa could continue only at the risk of losing his “majority” in the House.

That may not worry Yeddyurappa too much for three reasons. One, even if his numbers fall, the Opposition’s cannot swell: the anti-defection law will cost the rebel MLAs their seats.

Two, Janata Dal (Secular) leader H.D. Deve Gowda may be willing to bail the government out if his son H.D. Revanna is made deputy chief minister. Three, the Congress may not want to pull the plug right now.

Yeddyurappa camp followers clarified that talks with Gowda, whom many in the BJP still refuse to trust after a failed coalition two years ago, were still at a “nascent” stage. “Gowda and Yeddyurappa share a common antipathy towards the Reddys, and Gowda will do anything to see they do not triumph,” a source said.

The Congress, singed by the brothers who had lured away its MLAs and MPs into the BJP, too is wary of them.