Bangalore: The BJP central leaders will pick a new head for the party’s Karnataka unit within a week as no consensus emerged at yesterday’s discussions here to find a successor to K S Eshwarappa who quit the post on Thursday, party sources said.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley flew back to New Delhi yesterday to brief party president Rajnath Singh on the discussions he had with Karnataka unit leaders on the issue.

Jaitley, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, had one-on-one talks with Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, Eshwarappa, former party chief and former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda and a few other leaders before all of them met in a group to finalise the name. 

However no unanimity emerged as there were several claimants and factors like caste, region and acceptability — both to RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and party cadres - had to be reconciled, particularly because assembly elections are due in the state in May, the sources said.

Hence the Karnataka unit has left it to party central leadership to announce the new head based on Jaitley’s assessment of the situation in the only state the party is in power in southern India, the sources said.

IANS