BJP sequesters Karnataka MLAs in hotel near Delhi

Charges of poaching from both sides raise political heat

B.S. Yeddyurappa

BJP MLAs from Karnataka, 101 out of a total of 104, were being sequestered at a five-star hotel in Gurugram, near Delhi on Monday, with allegations of poaching of MLAs from both sides, the Congress-Janata Dal (S) and the BJP, raising the political temperature in Bengaluru.

The morning began with news that at least three Congress MLAs were in touch with the BJP, a charge denied by the BJP, and by afternoon, former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa was getting MLAs present in Delhi into a huddle and later packing them off to the hotel.

BJP MLAs who were here over the weekend for the party’s national council meet and subsequent meetings on Lok Sabha poll preparedness found their trip extended, after Mr. Yeddyurappa claimed that Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy too was in touch with a few BJP MLAs who may want to jump ship. “Despite being the CM, he promised money and ministership to our Kalaburagi MLA. That’s why we are showing unity. We will be in Delhi for another day or two,” Mr. Yeddyurappa said.

Congress sources, however, claimed that the sequestering of the BJP MLAs was going to be the precursor to the party moving a motion of no confidence in the Assembly.

Speaking to

The Hindu from Hyderabad, BJP general secretary in charge of Karnataka, P. Muralidhar Rao said his party was “only interested in preparing for the Lok Sabha polls” and that party MPs and MLAs were in New Delhi for that alone.

He denied any move to break the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) to form a government in the State, a strategy that had worked in 2008. “Basically, this is an internal issue of the Congress. D.K. Shivakumar, who has issues with other Congress leaders, is trying to delegitimise his rivals in the party by floating rumours about them, that they are in touch with the BJP,” Mr. Rao said.

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BJP lacks the numbers

According to top sources in the party, however, the impossibility of the numbers game in the Assembly has made any plan the BJP may have had to launch an attempt to break the Congress-JD(S) government a tricky one.

“The BJP needs at least 18 MLAs from the ruling combine to quit or walk out during the voting, to bring down the half-way mark of majority in the House to one where we can claim a majority, and we are nowhere close to those numbers. Even if the two independent MLAs and the BSP member now supporting the government come over to our side, we will still need 12 MLAs from the two ruling parties to defect,” said a source.

“As an opposition, of course, we do not have an interest in the continuation of the present government but we don’t have the numbers as yet. The persistence of these rumours that we are trying to bring the government down also stems from the seat-sharing agreement being negotiated between the Congress and the Janata Dal(S). With these rumours, the Congress remains under pressure, and the JD(S) is hoping to get eight Lok Sabha seats in the arrangement instead of the five now being offered,” said the source.

Confusion prevails in the BJP over whether or not to attempt to bring down the State government.