Bangalore, July 29 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa late Thursday announced he would resign July 31 and work for the party, over 12 hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) directed him to quit immediately over illegal mining scam in the state.


In a statement, the 68-year-old first BJP chief minister in south India said: "I am a disciplined worker of Bharatiya Janata Party. I have decided to tender my resignation to the post of chief minister as per the direction of the party.

"The month of Ashada (according to Hindu calendar) will be over on 30th July 2011 on the New Moon day or Amavasya. I will be tendering my resignation as chief minister on the forenoon of 31st July 2011."

"I have consistently toiled for 40 years to build the party from the scratch and have got the satisfaction of bringing the party to this level. It is my committed desire to work for the development of the party in the future also," Yeddyurappa said.

The announcement smoothens the way to elect his successor Friday for which the ruling BJP is holding a meeting here in the presence of senior leader Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley as central observers.

Yedddyurappa's announcement came after a day of hectic activity in the BJP camp with groups of legislators meeting him separately and speculation that he had imposed several conditions to quit.

Among the conditions talked about in BJP circles was that he will name the successor, will have a major say in ministry formation and should be made state unit president.

There was no indication from either him or his loyalists or from BJP central leadership whether the party has agreed to any of these conditions.

The BJP parliamentary board Thursday morning directed Yeddyurappa to quit immediately, a day after Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde sought his trail for graft in the illegal mining scam that has caused a loss of over Rs.16,000 crores to the state.