Amidst speculation that its State president B.S. Yeddyurappa is set to take oath as the Chief Minister on Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is short of majority, appears to have begun efforts to woo MLAs from the Opposition camp to boost its numbers.
Of the 221 seats for which results have been declared, the BJP has won 104 while the Congress has 78 and Janata Dal (Secular) 38, besides two Independents. The BJP has to now muster more numbers than the combined strength of the Congress-JD(S) alliance that stands at 117 — after including two Independents and reducing one seat as H.D. Kumaraswamy has won from two seats.
This means that the BJP would have to get a minimum 16 MLAs from the rival camp to resign in a bid to ensure that its actual tally is above the half-way mark in the Assembly. The party has to ensure that at least 16 MLAs from the rival camp abstain from voting during the floor test. The process of convincing MLAs from the rival camps to resign and then contest the bypolls on BJP ticket, which was resorted to by the party in 2008 for the survival of its then dispensation, has come to be known as Operation Kamala . The BJP senior leaders admit that the task is very complex as the number of MLAs who need to be approached is huge. But they assert that they are confident of achieving their goal.
MLC posts
What has come as a shot in the arm for the BJP is that seven MLC seats have fallen vacant. Five MLCs have been elected as MLAs and two other MLCs had resigned before contesting the Assembly polls. The BJP, which hopes to win a majority of them, wants to offer them to some of the rival MLAs who quit their seats in its support.
They appeared to have begun their task on Wednesday, with some of the Congress MLAs conspicuous by their absence at their legislature party meeting, though their leaders cited various reasons for it.
