'I will abide by BJP central leadership,' says Sadananda Gowda

New Delhi, July 7 (ANI): Karnataka Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda on Saturday said that he was prepared to accept whatever decision is taken by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) central leadership.

"I am prepared to accept whatever decision is taken by BJP central leadership. I am ready to quit if my party high command tells me to," he told media here.

Gowda is expected to meet party president Nitin Gadkari and senior party leaders LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley around 6 this evening.

The BJP core group, which met here earlier in the day decided to replace Gowda with Jagdish Shettar as Karnataka Chief Minister.

Shettar, who is the rural development minister, is the choice for the top post of former Karnataka chief minister B.S Yeddyurappa, who is calling the shots in Karnataka BJP even after his unceremonious exit as chief minister last year.

He will be the third BJP chief minister in the state in four years since the party came to power there in 2008.

After the core group meeting, BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad said that Gowda will be meeting party chief Nitin Gadkari, L K Advani and other leaders.

"A decision will be announced after that," Prasad told reporters.

The crisis in the Karnataka BJP intensified last week with nine ministers resigned from the State Cabinet thereby projecting a show of strength in their campaign for ousting Chief Minister Gowda.

The ministers, who quit earlier were Jagadish Shettar (Rural Development), CM Udasi (PWD), Murugesh Nirani (Industries), V Somanna (Housing), Umesh Katti (Agriculture), Basavaraj Bommai (Water Resources), Revu Naik Belamagi (Libraries and Animal Husbandry), M P Renukacharya (Excise) and Raju Gowda (Small Scale Industries). (ANI)