BJP's southern discomfort reaches Delhi

The Karnatka BJP's battle reached the Capital on Sunday, as the dissident group headed by the Reddy brothers sent three aides to meet the party's top brass.

Karnataka Home Minister V S Acharya will meet L K Advani at his residence later on Sunday, while Speaker Jagadish Shettar is likely to meet Arun Jaitley. Another BJP leader Dhananjaya Kumar is accompanying them.

The Karanataka government plunged into a crisis on Wednesday, after the cabinet's Reddy brothers - Janardhana and Karunakara - demanded Chief Minsiter Y S Yeddyrurappa's ouster.

The Reddys claim they have the support of 60 MLAs out of BJP's 117, and are promoting Shettar as their candidate for the post of chief minister.

The two camps have clashed publicly several times in the last few months, with the Reddy brothers accusing Yeddyurappa of being dictatorial, and not giving them enough space in how they run their ministries.

The latest confrontation comes after the chief minister, who's trying to raise money for flood relief work, introduced new taxes on trucks. That hits the Reddy brothers' mining business hard. Openly defying him, G Janardhana Reddy and G Karunakara Reddy have organized parallel relief operations for homes and families struck by floods in Bellary, their home turf.

Earlier this week, central party leader Arun Jaitley was sent to Bangalore to negotiate peace. Jaitley openly backed Yeddyurappa, praising his work as chief minister.