Bengaluru, Aug 9: Denying allegations that the saffron party is keen on toppling the 10-week old JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka, the BJP on Wednesday insisted that it is not “poaching” MLAs of other parties.
KPCC chief Dinesh Gundurao and water resources minister D K Shivakumar had claimed that the opposition party was trying to poach their party’s MLAs with promises of power and cash, but B S Yeddyurappa, state BJP chief and opposition leader, who returned from New Delhi on Wednesday, rubbished those allegations.
“Why is Congress not confident of its own MLAs?” Yeddyurappa said. “Are they making these allegations fearing some of their MLAs may desert the party because they were denied cabinet berths?”
Yeddyurappa went on to reveal that he had travelled to New Delhi to discuss the party’s preparations for the forthcoming polls to urban local bodies and the Lok Sabha with party chief Amit Shah.
Cabinet expansion after ULB polls?
Meanwhile, with reports doing the rounds that unhappy legislators are threatening to join the BJP if they are denied cabinet berths, Congress leaders are now planning to defer cabinet expansion indefinitely
A senior Congress leader, who quoted AICC chief Rahul Gandhi, had claimed that the cabinet would be expanded after August 11 when Ashada, the inauspicious month, ends. However, now sources say it may happen only after the urban local bodies polls scheduled for August 29.
The top leadership of both the Congress and the JD(S) is worried that dissidence could resurface if the cabinet is expanded, and the BJP could cash in and lure legislators to its fold and even form the government.
"If BJP manages the magical 104 figure it would be the darkest day for democracy in the state,” a senior Congress leader said.
Sources, however, say that what the BJP can do, Congress can do better, and that some leaders are gearing to counter the threat by poaching MLAs from the BJP.
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