Mocking Congress and JD(S) for calling each other “B team” of the BJP, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday said that it only shows that both have accepted BJP as the “A team.”
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“We are happy about it. Why should we worry about who is the B team?’’ said Mr. Bommai in Belagavi on Saturday, reacting to the Rajya Sabha results announced on Friday in which BJP won three out of four seats, while Congress won one seat and JD(S) drew a blank. After Congress and JD(S) failed to support each other’s candidates, resulting in BJP walking away with a third victory, both the Opposition parties have been accusing each other of working to ensure the saffron party’s victory as its “B team”.
No soft corner
To a query about JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy’s statement that Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and Congress leader Siddaramaiah had a “soft corner” for Mr. Bommai, he said that it was baseless. “Mr. Siddaramaiah always targets me. If you consider the terms he uses to criticise me, you will understand whether he has a soft corner for me or not,” he said.
The Chief Minister visited the house of Prabhakar Kore, former BJP MP, in the morning. Party sources said this was to convince the KLE Society chairman to actively engage himself in the Council poll campaign. “There was a feeling among party workers that he was not actively engaged in campaign. KLE society and its various institutions have significant clout among the voters who include teachers and graduates,’’ a BJP leader said.