Breaking his silence after the party asked him to step down in the wake of the Lokayukta indictment in illegal mining scam, the Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa, has said that he will step down from the post on Sunday as per the directions of his party.

In his first comments after keeping the BJP on tenterhooks, Mr Yeddyurappa said he had toiled for 40 years to build the party in Karnataka from scratch and it was his “committed desire” to work for its development in future also.

Stating that he is a disciplined worker of BJP, Mr Yeddyurappa said he has decided to tender his resignation from the post of Chief Minister as per the direction of the party.

“The month of ‘Ashada’ (considered inauspicious) will be over on July 30. I will be tendering my resignation as Chief Minister on the forenoon of July 31,” he said in a statement late last night.

“I have consistently toiled for 40 years to build the party from scratch and have got satisfaction of bringing the party to this level. It is my committed desire to work for the development of the party in future also,” he said.

Sources close to the Chief Minister had said yesterday that 68-year-old Yeddyurappa, heading BJP’s first government in the South since May 2008, agreed to fall in line with the BJP Central Parliamentary Board’s diktat.

The board, the party’s highest decision making body, had also decided to send senior leaders Mr Rajnath Singh and Mr Arun Jaitley as observers to Bangalore today to oversee the election of the new leader of the BJP legislature party.

Along with Mr Yeddyurappa, the Reddy brothers have been strongly indicted in his findings on illegal mining by the Lokayukta Santosh Hegde, which have plunged the State into a political turmoil.

Mr Yeddyurappa’s indictment pertained to violations of the Prevention of Corruption Act, and the Lokayukta also submitted a copy of his report to the Governor, Mr H.R. Bhardwaj, recommending to him to initiate “further steps”.

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