With three MLAs of the ruling coalition of Janata Dal (S) and Congress camping in Mumbai and reportedly awaiting signal from the BJP on switching sides, a panic-stricken Congress has told its MLAs to be alert and not fall prey to the “shameless tactics” of the Opposition to destabilise the government.
In the wake of the BJP’s attempts to poach the party’s dissident legislators, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara and a dozen Ministers held a meeting at a private hotel on Monday. They alleged that the BJP was indulging in horse-trading.
Meanwhile, the party’s troubleshooter and Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who played a key role in keeping the legislators together after the fractured mandate in the Assembly polls last year, has been asked to go to Mumbai on Tuesday to hold talks with the three MLAs — former Ministers Ramesh Jarkiholi and R. Shankar, who were dropped during the recent Cabinet reshuffle, and B. Nagendra, who had quit the BJP and joined Congress on the eve of elections.
The Congress is also worried as three other MLAs — Anand Singh, Umesh Jadhav, and B.C. Patil — have not been in touch with the party, sources said.
Mr. Siddaramaiah is believed to have told Ministers that the BJP should not be allowed to destabilise the government since the party has to prepare for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. He told the leaders to refrain from making comments to the media on the saffron party’s ‘Operation Kamala’.
However, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy claimed that all three MLAs were in touch with him. “All of them [Congress MLAs] are continuously in contact with me. They went to Mumbai after informing me. My government is not under any threat,” he said.
His deputy, G. Parameshwara, said BJP leaders were fixing dates on the fall of the government, but it would never happen. “Some of our MLAs might have gone to temples, on holiday, family outings... we don’t know. Nobody said they are going to join the BJP and destabilise the government. All our MLAs are with the party. There is absolute no problem,” he said.