Bengaluru: The BJP is in no mood to let the three-month old Kumaraswamy government have a peaceful run with state leaders involved in intense efforts to poach legislators of the ruling Congress and JD(S) and topple the fledgling government. State BJP president B.S.Yeddyurappa met party national president Amit Shah at Delhi on Tuesday to reportedly discuss the party's chances of forming a government in Karnataka, if the poaching game, dubbed as Operation Lotus, succeeds.
The confirmation about the poaching attempts came from none other than KPCC President Dinesh Gundurao and Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar who blamed the BJP for trying its lure Congress MLAs. Shivakumar said, “I know that BJP leaders are in touch with 12 Congress MLAs and are trying their best to poach our MLAs but the Congress will deflate the BJP attempt to break the party.” He made the allegation hours after Yeddyurappa met Shah in Delhi.
Though the BJP state unit tried to downplay Yeddyurappa's meeting with Shah, sources close to the former CM said that he had discussed the possibility of forming a government by dethroning the JD(S) led coalition. According to the sources, the disgruntled Congress MLAs are in touch with top leaders of the saffron party with many of them upset after the CM's statement on the ability of North Karnataka to fund its projects which has triggered a campaign for a separate state too. BJP MLAs B. Sriramulu and Umesh Katti have approached these MLAs and requested them to switch sides, confided sources.
The BJP needs 12 to 15 MLAs to form a government with a clear majority. This is no easy task and so Yeddyurappa has reportedly instructed party leaders to poach an influential Congress leader who can bring four to five MLAs along with him. These efforts at forming a new government are likely to intensify after the month of Ashada, considered inauspicious, gets over, added the sources. Meanwhile, Yeddyurappa told reporters in Delhi that he met Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu to discuss the problems of arecanut growers in Karnataka.
