Bengaluru: If the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka thought it had seen off the threat from the BJP to pull down their four-month-old government, think again! On Saturday, ‘Operation Kamal 2’ was back in play as two Congress MLAs and an independent MLA, left the city for an undisclosed destination, with the speculation being that they were the latest targets of the BJP’s “Operation Lotus.”
Hosakote MLA, M.T.B. Nagaraj, Chikkaballapur MLA, Dr Sudhakar and Mulabagilu independent MLA, H. Nagesh — all of whom have been upset over not getting a berth in the Cabinet — who left after lunch at a hotel in the city, were seen heading to Chennai, setting off speculation that they could be going to Mumbai via Tamil Nadu to confuse the JD(S) and the Congress bigwigs who had been asked to keep an eye on them.
Although Dr Sudhakar sent messages to some of his friends claiming he was still in Bengaluru, it is believed the MLAs are heading to Maharashtra to meet with a prominent BJP politician from the BJP run state, who has reportedly been given the task of wooing Congress MLAs from Hyderabad and Mumbai Karnataka. Meanwhile, Mr Siddaramaiah, who has started giving pep talks to unhappy party MLAs, met Mr Anand Singh and Mr Zameer Ahmed Khan at his home on Saturday.
He has reportedly tasked water resources minister, D.K. Shivakumar with guarding the party MLAs just like he did the Gujarat MLAs during the Rajya Sabha polls. BJP insiders said that they were engaged in talks with 10 Congress legislators, to make up the shortfall and boost the BJP from 104 to more than the required 114, while others said the BJP wanted to bring the government down in November and keep the assembly in suspended animation until possible polls.
Mr. Renukacharya, a close associate of BJP state chief B.S. Yeddyurappa denied the party was trying to woo Congress MLAs.
