After two days of intense political drama that saw brazen attempts to destabilise the coalition government — with nearly a dozen dissident Congress legislators being “in touch” with the BJP and threatening desertion — the party’s senior leaders breathed a sigh of relief on Wednesday. For, a section of these legislators decided to stay with the party after the top leaders apparently agreed to some of their demands, including ministerial berths.
Dissident legislators, including Bheema Naik, Anand Singh (both from Ballari), and Shrimant Patil (from Belagavi), who had not been in touch with the party, resurfaced in Bengaluru, met with top Congress leaders and ruled out a defection to the BJP. It is learnt that the Congress MLAs placed a list of demands before the State leadership for remaining with the party.
The Congress, meanwhile, has decided to convene a meeting of its legislators on Friday to work out a strategy to douse dissidence. Significantly, the party has warned that those who do not attend the CLP meeting would face action under the Anti-Defection Law.
In the wake of the BJP’s attempts to poach the party’s dissident legislators, AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka K.C. Venugopal, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, and KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao had held a series of meetings over the past few days. Mr. Venugopal told reporters that the drama would “end in a day or a two”. Alleging that the BJP was “shamelessly indulging in horse-trading”, he said, “Not even a single MLA is going to quit the party. I have contacted my MLAs, and therefore I am telling you this very confidently. In fact, by Thursday evening you will have a clear picture about Karnataka. It will be a big slap on the face of the BJP as it is going to fail in its endeavour to bring the government down. It will be a national shame for them.”
With H. Nagesh (Independent MLA) and former Minister R. Shankar (KPJP) announcing their decision to withdraw support to the coalition government, the Congress has deputed Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar, KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre, and Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan to keep partymen together. However, party sources said that Umesh Jadav, B. Nagendra and Ramesh Jarkiholi were still maintaining a distance from the party. These leaders, camping in Mumbai, are expected to return to their constituencies on Thursday.
