As expected the Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa, finally put in his papers today.

But the succession battle in Bharatiya Janata Party's Karnataka unit is far from over. The BJP central observers – Mr Arun Jaitley and Mr Rajnath Singh – have been besieged by both pro- and anti- Yeddyurappa camps pitching for the successor.

When a successor's name suggested by Mr Yeddyurappa was put before the party it was shot down by old war horses (the Eswarappa and Jagadish Shetter camps).

Mr Yeddyurappa's exit has re-ignited dissent within the party.

It may be recalled that Mr Yeddyurappa did not have a smooth ride in his 38-month term where he had to fight rebellion from several quarters.

Since Sunday morning, Mr Yeddyurappa changed his mind almost every hour, before faxing his resignation to party president, Mr Nitin Gadkari, indicating that he would tender the resignation to the Governor, Mr H.R. Bhardwaj, by noon.

Mr Yeddyurappa after dilly-dallying finally resigned officially at around 4.15 p.m. He submitted his resignation letter to the Governor. Before submitting his resignation, Mr Yeddyurappa marched towards the Raj Bhawan, with 70 MLAs supporting him.

A press release from the Raj Bhawan said that Mr Yeddyurappa's resignation has been accepted with immediate effect with the stipulation that he shall continue to function as Chief Minister along with his Council of Ministers till alternative arrangements are made.

Later after submitting his resignation, Mr Yeddyurappa addressed a press conference and said, “I thank the people of the State, Cabinet colleagues for extending support.”

He also said that he was happy to have served the State for three years and two months and was satisfied with his work.

“Ours is the best Government in the country,” he said.

“I am resigning without any hesitation, bowing down to my party,” he added.

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