Karnataka: Cong, BJP engulfed in heated political slugfest over 'Missing' MLA crisis

Karnataka’s ruling Congress-JDS coalition and opposition BJP levied allegations against each other over making attempts to poach MLAs in a fresh political war just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

HD Kumaraswamy

New Delhi: An intense political drama erupted between the ruling Congress-JDS coalition and the BJP  on Tuesday after the latter moved 104 of its MLAs to the National Capital region (NCR)  in Delhi over the last two days amid the ruling Govt alleging the opposition's move to be part of Operation Lotus 3.0, a bid to poach their MLAs. Top leaders of the Congress including Siddaramaiah, Venugopal , DK Shivkumar, HK Patil and Muniyappa scheduled  a meeting  at the KK Guest House in Bengaluru to address the crisis over the alleged poaching attempt by the opposition. Over the course of the last week , Karnataka’s ruling Congress-JDS coalition and opposition BJP  have  levied allegations against each other over making desperate attempts to poach MLAs in a fresh political war just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Amid media reports that six to eight Congress MLAs were inclined to join the the BJP and some lawmakers of the ruling coalition had gone incommunicado, Chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said he has “sufficient numbers” to run a stable government. Karnataka CM asserted there was no question of “instability” in his government. As per reports, the BJP was holding all its 104 MLAs together in a resort at Gurgaon and conducting meetings for them. BJP legislators had gone to the national capital for the party national council meeting which ended on Saturday. As per a leading media portal,  the MP's have been moved to a luxury resort in Gurgaon while five Congress MLAs were missing. As the Congress-JDS combine accused the BJP of luring away its MLAs offering bribes and other allurements, BJP state chief BS Yeddyurappa rejected reports his party was attempting ‘Operation Lotus’ to topple the state government. ‘Operation Lotus’ is a reference to BJP’s alleged bid to lure several opposition MLAs to defect to ensure stability of its then government headed by Yeddyurappa in 2008. He said there was no truth in the charge and instead alleged that the Congress-JD(S) combine was trying to woo his party MLAs. In the 224-member Assembly, BJP has 104 members, Congress-79, JDS 37, BSP, KPJP and Independent one each, besides Speaker. BSP, KPJP and an Independent are supporting the coalition. Kumaraswamy said he enjoyed the support of 120 MLAs and alleged that Yeddyurappa was making “futile attempts” to destabilise his government.