With the stalemate in Karnataka BJP over B S Yeddyurappa's successor continuing, the party's central leadership indicated late on Monday that choosing a new chief minister is being done through a "political process" which may happen by consensus or secret voting.

Asked why BJP had failed to choose a successor to Yeddyurappa, senior party leader Arun Jaitley said "it is a political process. The outgoing chief minister has resigned.

Rajnath Singh and I have finished our talks with our MLAs and MPs."

"A decision through consensus or a secret voting can be taken. Both are legitimate electoral methods," he said.

Asked about former BJP state unit chief D V Sadananda Gowda, who is Yeddyurappa's choice for the chief minister's post, Jaitley said "every leader has a right to name his successor."

However, Sadananda Gowda not acceptable to the rival side led by senior leader H N Ananth Kumar and state unit chief K S Eshwarappa. The anti-Yeddyurappa camp is plumping for Jagadish Shettar, also a former state unit president who comes from dominant Lingayat community to which Yeddyurappa also belongs to. He is not acceptable to Yeddyurappa.

Party sources said BJP central leadership is aware of the hold Yeddyurappa enjoys over the party MLAs and the Lingayat community in Karnataka. The leadership is worried that antagonising him may split the party vertically as he has the support of around 65 of the 121 BJP MLAs.

"Gowda is one of the most amiable leaders in the whole of Karnataka. He is also Yeddyurappa's choice," a senior leader said, indicating Gowda's candidature for the post has not been rejected yet.