Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday threatened to resign when the seer of 'Panchamasali Guru Peetha' warned that the community will leave him, if a BJP MLA from the community is not made the minister during the upcoming cabinet expansion. The chief minister, who is awaiting the BJP high command's nod to expand his cabinet, amid intense lobbying by the aspirants, wanted the seer Vachanananda Swamiji and the 'Panchamasali' community to understand his "situation."

Yediyurappa pointed out that he has come to power because of the Congress-JD(S) legislators who rebelled against the then coalition government. The incident took place when Vachanananda Swamiji, while addressing an event at Harihara, said "chief minister, you are a good person, Murugesh Nirani (BJP MLA) has helped you a lot, he has stood by you... if you leave his hands this time, the united Panchamasali community will leave your hands.

As Swamiji was making this statement, Yediyurappa, who was seated next to him, rose and threatened to leave the stage. "If you speak like this I will go away...what are you speaking... kindly pardon me, I will leave, you should not speak like this, if you speak like this I can't work... you can give me suggestions, you cannot threaten me," he said, as the Swamiji tried to convince Yediyurappa and asked him to take his seat.

As Yediyurappa acceded to his request, the seer said he was not threatening him but was putting forward the rights of the community. The chief minister, who was visibly upset, was seen talking to Home minister Basavaraj Bommai next to him, who even tried to convince the seer not to continue with the topic.

Nirani, an MLA from Bilgi who was Industries minister in the previous Yediyurappa government, was seated on the stage when the incident occurred. Later addressing the event, Yediyurappa said he was not "selfish" and was even ready to resign.