The sudden decision of the Congress to herd its MLAs to a resort appears to have forced the Bharatiya Janata Party to rework its strategy to woo rebel Congress MLAs for a shot at power in the State.
A day after the Congress camped its MLAs in a resort, the BJP asked all its MLAs who were staying in a Gurugram hotel to return to Bengaluru.
According to sources in the BJP, the decision was taken as wooing rebel Congress MLAs in a bid to topple the government may take some more time in the wake of the Congress becoming cautious. Besides this, keeping the MLAs away in a north Indian city had attracted much criticism too, they noted.
However, it is learnt that the BJP has not entirely abandoned its efforts to woo rebel Congress MLAs. “The efforts are still going on. However, we cannot specify any time frame for either wooing them or toppling the government,” a senior BJP leader said on the condition of anonymity.
According to a prominent leader, the party had to put off its decision to get four rebel Congress MLAs to resign on Saturday following the Congress move on Friday.
Speculation is rife that the exercise may gain momentum again when the legislature session begins shortly. This is despite BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa saying that his party would not try to destabilise the coalition government. He told reporters here on Saturday that the governing coalition leaders “need not have any fears” of the BJP destabilising their government.
Though various political theories, including the possibility of the BJP moving a no-confidence motion in the Assembly, are doing the rounds, senior leaders said they were yet to take a call on anything.
Meanwhile, BJP senior leader K.S. Eshwarappa told reporters that it was dissatisfied MLAs from the Congress who do not want the coalition government to continue.
Yeddyurappa to tour drought-hit areas
A seven-member team of BJP leaders, led by Mr. Yeddyurappa, will tour four drought-hit districts of Karnataka from Monday.
The move comes after Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s jibe at BJP leaders for camping their MLAs in a hotel when the State is reeling under drought. BJP leaders were huddled in a luxury hotel in Gurugram till Saturday.
According to a press release from the BJP, the team would begin the tour after offering puja at Kurudumale Ganesha temple in Mulbagal taluk of Kolar district. On Tuesday, the team will tour Chamarajanagar district as well as Nanjangud taluk of Mysuru district. Among the other members of the team are State general secretary N. Ravi Kumar, and former Ministers B.N. Bacche Gowda and Katta Subramanya Naidu.
BJP taunts Cong. for stay in resort that ‘encroached’ govt. land
Alleging that the Eagleton resort near Bidadi, where Congress MLAs are camping, owes ₹998 crore as penalty to the State government for encroaching its land, the Bharatiya Janata Party has urged the Congress to collect the penalty and use the amount for waiving farm loans.
“Eagleton resort owe GOK Rs 998cr Penalty amount in land encroachment case. Now that Congress Party will spend time in resort we request ‘Maryada Purushothama’ Sri.@siddaramaiah, @DKShivakumar & @dineshgrao to collect this money while u return U can use it for farmer loan waiver,” the Karnataka BJP said in a tweet.
On its part, Congress leaders maintained that the stay of their MLAs in the resort had nothing do with encroachment of land by the resort or the penalty slapped on it. Congress leaders made it clear that resort was being paid for the stay of its MLAs.
