A BJP lawmaker who is leading a rebellion against Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa has started knocking on the doors of religious institutions without whose support it has become difficult to further their cause of a leadership change.

The chief minister’s bugbear, Basanagoud Patil Yatnal, who has already unleashed a no-holds barred attack to replace Yediyurappa, has been meeting some prominent seers to seek their blessings for his operation.

He met the seers of Devanur mutt and Hosamutt and visited the Srikanteshwara Temple atop Chamundi Hills in Mysore on Monday as part of his plan to seek the blessings of religious leaders for his mission. But sources privy to the meetings at two of the mutts said the seers usually welcomed anyone who visited them and that alone doesn’t guarantee their support since Yediyurappa still held sway.

However, Yatnal skipped Suttur mutt, an influential Lingayat institution, although dissident state minister C.P. Yogeeshwara and lawmaker Ramesh Jarkiholi had visited the seer recently.

One who could never meet eye to eye with Yediyurappa, Yatnal has been a major headache for the BJP that failed in disciplining him despite several warnings against anti-party activities.

“I have been elected to the Lok Sabha twice and I am not here as a lawmaker because of Yediyurappa, but because of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s blessings,” he told reporters on Tuesday in Mysore, where he has been visiting religious leaders seeking their support to replace the chief minister.

He brushed aside a question on why the party would go for a new chief minister after recently clarifying it had no such plans, Yatnal said nothing could be predicted.

“Who knows if the high command would place that responsibility on my shoulders? No can discount any possibility. Did anyone expect D.V. Sadananda Gowda becoming chief minister?” Yatnal said.

After Yediyurappa was forced to resign following a land scam in 2011, the party had surprised everyone by picking Gowda. “At one time no one could predict the BJP would come to power in Karnataka and Yediyurappa would become chief minister. So let’s not rule out anything,” Yatnal said.

While he did not disclose how many more seers he planned to meet in the coming days, Yatnal was critical of some religious leaders and accused them of playing politics. “Mutt leaders should change to khadi from saffron since they are playing politics,” he told reporters in Mysore on Monday, alluding to some of the most powerful mutts that traditionally strengthened the hands of Yediyurappa.

He met A.H. Vishwanath, another BJP leader who has been seeking a leadership change, at a hotel in Mysore setting off speculations about the dissidents coming together to take on Yediyurappa.

One of the 17 turncoats who jumped ship from the Janata Dal Secular-Congress coalition to the BJP in 2019, Vishwanath had in June accused Yediyurappa of trying to use an irrigation project worth Rs 21,473 crore to get a “kickback” without even seeking financial clearance.

The flurry of activity from Yatnal who even met some party leaders miffed at Yediyurappa left the BJP circles abuzz with talks about the possible impact of the latest round of rebellion brewing in the party. A party source, who requested not to be named, said they were not in a position to make matters worse.

“The central leadership had already made it clear that there would be no change in Karnataka. Yet the dissents cannot be ignored since these are senior leaders. So our leaders will certainly take stock of the situation and pacify everyone,” he added.