MLAs hijacked', say Congress-JD(S)
The lone independent has attended both BJP and Opposition camps.
Hyderabad: Taking the race to the wire, JDS-Congress Chief Minister candidate H.D. Kumaraswamy on Friday said two of his party’s MLAs had been hijacked by the BJP but one had returned to the fold.
One of the three ‘missing’ Congress MLAs, Anand Singh, reportedly turned up in the Congress camp, and said he would vote with the Opposition. The Congress has to account for two more.
If this scenario holds, the Opposition would have lost four votes: Two from the Congress and one from the JD(S). Besides, Mr Kumaraswamy who won from two seats, can vote only once.
With this, the JD(S) strength comes down to 36. The Congress, without the three MLAs, will have 75. A legislator from the KPJP is with the Opposition, taking the total to 112 votes. The lone independent has attended both BJP and Opposition camps.
The half-way mark in the Assembly is 112, with elections to two seats still to be held to the 224-member House. The BJP had won 104 seats and the number goes up to 107 if these three legislators do sail with it. Pro-tem Speaker K.G Bopaiah can vote in the case of a tie.
Speaking to reporters outside Hotel Novotel in Shamshabad, Mr Kumar-aswamy said that though two of JD(S) MLAs were hijacked by BJP, one had come in touch and had stated he would vote with the JD(S) on Saturday.
“Both the MLAs were hijacked in Bengaluru. We are confident that the remaining one MLA will also join us on Saturday. We are confident of both these MLAs joining us,” he added.
He exuded confidence that JDS-Congress MLAs will defeat the BJP in the trust vote. “BJP leaders are resorting to false pro-paganda on our MLAs. I request all not to believe in such rumours. Our MLAs are intact and we will defeat BJP,” he said.