Bengaluru: How can Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa get the required number of MLAs to prove his majority in the Assembly on Saturday? What are the strategies the BJP has adopted to poach Congress and JD(S) MLAs and make sure it has the numbers on its side? Will it possible for the BJP to break the tight security cordon provided to the Congress and JD(S) MLAs and approach them for support? These are the questions in the minds of not only people of Karnataka but BJP leaders and workers too.
According to sources, the BJP is confident of getting the numbers to prove its majority though it has only 104 seats in the 222 member Assembly with polls yet to be held to two seats. It requires eight more seats to win the trust vote in the House.
According to sources, the party has approached disgruntled MLAs of the Congress and JD(S) through various sources. A few Lingayat pontiffs too have reportedly entered the field to convince community MLAs in the Congress to vote in favour of Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa-a Lingayat himself-and retain the CM post for the community.
A message has reportedly been sent through prominent Lingayat maths in the state to these MLAs, that the community should not let a Lingayat CM lose the trust vote and if this happens, it may be difficult to get the high profile post in the near future. Playing the emotional card is expected to help the party garner the support of Lingayat MLAs particularly in the Mumbai-Karnataka and Hyderabad Karnataka regions of the state.
Adopting another innovative method, party senior leaders have made telephone calls to family members of the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs requesting them to prevail upon the MLAs to change their stand and give one more chance to Yeddyurappa, sources added.
Another method of the BJP would be to ensure that enough MLAs abstain during the trust vote.
Soon after the MLAs take the oath as members, the Pro tem Speaker will take up the trust vote proceedings and during this gap, the BJP will try to make a few MLAs abstain from the voting process, sources added.
To rope in Lingayat MLAs, BJP senior leaders, Umesh Katti and Basavanagouda Patil Yatnal have entered the field, sources said adding that these two leaders are already in touch with Congress MLAs of North Karnataka.
On Friday evening, rumours did the rounds that the BJP has been able to get hold of eight MLAs of the Congress on its side, but there was no confirmation of this.
