Bengaluru: Kodagu District In-charge minister Sa Ra Mahesh, on Tuesday, January 15, said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was not trying to poach MLAs from the Janata Dal (S)-Congress coalition government.
Speaking to media in Belagavi’s Chikkodi, Minister Sa Ra Mahesh said, “Yes, it is true that Congress MLAs are in touch with us. We have been talking to them. It is also true that six to eight BJP MLAs may resign and side with the coalition but the BJP is not trying to poach Congress MLAs.”
Mahesh stated that 104 BJP MLAs from Karnataka were lodged at the ITC Hotel in Gurugram to attend the party meeting. He added that there were no Congress MLAs who were thinking of quitting the party.
“Yes, we are in touch with BJP MLAs. They have gone to Delhi only to part-take in the BJP’s national party meeting. We have been in touch with some BJP MLAs to discuss the upcoming Lok Sabha elections,” he added.
According to sources, the Janata Dal (Secular) has been trying to convince eight BJP leaders to defect as it would make it easier for the coalition to ensure an easy win in the Mandya and Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha seats. Sources also say that Nanjangud MLA Harshavardhan and Turuvekere MLA Jayaram are willing to defect from the BJP.
Sources from the state Congress say that the dissent in the coalition government arose mainly due to Siddaramaiah’s efforts to sabotage the JD(S) in the state.
A Congress source stated, “When the cabinet expansion happened, apart from M B Patil and P T Parameshwar Naik, no other leader chosen by Siddarmaiah was inducted into the cabinet. He was, however, hailed for ensuring that the caste combinations in the cabinet were perfect. But those were the efforts of all other leaders. If Siddaramaiah had not encouraged Ramesh Jarkiholi to rebel, this situation would not have come up in the coalition.”
The source also revealed that several leaders had suggested that B Nagendra be made the minister in order to compensate dropping Ranebbenur MLA R Shankar from the cabinet.
“Ideally, when R Shankar was dropped, H Nagesh (Mulbagal MLA) should have been given a ministerial berth but that did not happen. Also, B Nagendra was roped into the party after leaders promised him a ministerial post but he was not even given a chairmanship of a board. He was also dissenting. This gave rise to three MLAs deciding that they would threaten to quit the party in order to bargain for a portfolio. Siddaramaiah should have taken into consideration the need for the coalition to survive,” the source added.
