BANGALORE: Lawmakers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will meet here Aug 3 to elect a new leader to form the second government in the state following resignation of scam-hit Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa, a party official said Sunday."The BJP legislature party meeting will be held here Aug 3 at 11 a.m. to elect the new leader as talks among the leaders and legislators are still in progress," the party's general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters here after four-hour long discussions to choose a consensus leader ended in a deadlock.Soon after Yeddyurappa, the BJP's first chief minister in south India, resigned from the post in the evening, the party's central observers Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh held prolonged discussions with the party's state unit leaders and legislators to resolve the leadership issue."The talks will continue between the leaders and legislators to resolve the issue and arrive at a consensus so that the legislature party meeting can be held Wednesday for the smooth election of the new leader," Pradhan added.Earlier report:Hours after B.S. Yeddyurappa quit as Karnataka chief minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday evening was still struggling for a consensus candidate to lead the party's new government in the southern state.With many contenders and groups pushing their favourites and Yeddyurappa insisting on his choice as successor, the BJP legislature party meeting was delayed. It was to be held soon after Yeddyurappa submitted his resignation to Governor H.R. Bhardwaj Sunday afternoon.Senior leaders Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley continued their efforts to persuade Yeddyurappa and various groups in the state party to reach a consensus on who should lead the government next.Yeddyurappa and his supporters were insisting that Lok Sabha member from Udupi-Chikmagalur D.V. Sadananda Gowda be the next chief minister.Just before submitting his resignation, Yeddyurappa announced that he had suggested to party central leaders to pick Gowda as his successor.However, party sources told IANS that there was opposition to Gowda from several leaders, particularly from state unit chief K.S. Eshwarappa and general secretary and Bangalore South MP H.N. Ananth Kumar.The two, backed by other anti-Yeddyurappa legislators, were against picking up a Lok Sabha member as the new chief minister and wanted the choice be from the state legislators.They were pushing for Rural Development Minister Jagadish Shettar, who, like Yeddyurappa, belongs to politically strong Lingayat community.Singh and Jaitley met Yeddyurappa again after he tendered his resignation to persuade him not to insist on his nominee and facilitate a consensus. However, he has not relented thus far, his supporters said.The two central leaders also met Gowda, Shettar, Eshwarappa and several others but there was no sign of a consensus, several hours after Yeddyurappa's resignation, which too came after three days of defiance of the party directive.
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