Kumaraswamy launches fast for probe

BANGALORE: Even as former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's fast unto death galvanised JD(S) workers and showed signs of a buildup towards Saturday evening, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa went into a huddle with senior ministers and top officials on how to tackle the situation.
At the end of the day, it looked like a battle of wits between Yeddyurappa and Kumaraswamy, both expecting the other to blink first to gain political mileage. Backchannel efforts to break the deadlock for "mutual benefit and without loss of face" commenced with a few members of family of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda establishing links with Yeddyurappa.While there was buzz about Home Minister R Ashok visiting Freedom Park, it was later aborted as Yeddyurappa had not finetuned his strategy to placate Kumaraswamy, whose was demanding a CBI probe into BJP's chargesheet, which alleged that the JD(S) leader had amassed wealth.