Yeddyurappa smashes Venkaiah Naidu's laptop, slaps minister

BANGALORE: Minutes after being relegated to the status of caretaker chief minister of Karnataka, B S Yeddyurappa (BSY) vented his anger at senior central BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu, who was trying to pacify him. BSY flew into a rage and grabbed Naidu's laptop and smashed it on the floor on Sunday, according to party sources.

The incident took place in a suite at Hotel Lalit Ashok where the BJP central observers, including Naidu, a past president of BJP, had called the chief minister to demand his resignation, the sources said.

Such was the 68-year-old Lingayat leader's anger that when a minister close to him woke him up at his Race Course Road residence, he slapped the minister's face.

BSY was already miffed at the central leadership's decision to ask him to step down and its reluctance to heed his choice of a pliable successor. The trigger for his violent behaviour appeared to be Naidu's refusal to sign a letter supporting BSY's cause. Sources said Naidu, who had so far always supported BSY's cause, toed the central line in removing BSY as CM.

The state minister close to BSY who faced the disgraced CM's wrath was not named by the sources.