Bangalore: Former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa on Sunday held extensive talks with Congress leader and former minister Jabbar Khan Honnali in an attempt to woo him to join his party.

Yeddyurappa is planning to pit Honnali against Jagadish Shettar from the chief minister’s home turf of Hubli Central constituency.

A senior leader close to Yeddyurappa said Honnali agreed to contest against Shettar after two rounds of talks, but sought some time to enlist the consent of his supporters. Yeddyurappa was in Hubli on Sunday to attend a conference of the Hugar community.

Yeddyurappa’s script is to neutralize Shettar’s influence in North Karnataka by defeating him in the elections and prevent him from emerging as a Lingayat leader. Sources said Yeddyurappa’s attempts to get his loyalist Basavaraj Bommai to contest against Shettar failed.

Yeddyurappa is banking on Honnali for an upset win against Shettar as he enjoys clout among the Muslim community in Hubli. He took over as president of Anjuman-e-Islam , a powerful organization in North Karnataka, by defeating former minister A M Hindasgeri’s group in a recent election.

Fed up with groupism in Congress, Honnali is said to have expressed willingness to join Yeddyurappa’s party as he feels he will enjoy the support of Lingayats in the Hubli Central apart from that of Muslims.

Hubli Central has around 50,000 Muslim voters. No party has fielded a Muslim candidate from this constituency. The JD(S), too, is wooing Honnali to contest on its party ticket. A day after BJP asked its cadres not to criticize Yeddyurappa , women and child development minister Kalakappa Bandi on Sunday hit out at the former CM stating no individual is bigger than the party. “The party is built by lakhs of volunteers, not by any individual ,” he said.

Meanwhile, BJP’s Karnataka point man Dharmendra Pradhan is expected to come to Bangalore on Tuesday to strategize plans to retain Yeddyurappa in the party. “A meeting of supporters has been convened at Yeddyurappa’s residence on Tuesday,” B P Harish, former CM’s close aide, said.-Times of India