Karnataka Government Formation: Charges of Horse-trading Grow Louder as Parties Count Heads For Staking Claim

The day has been quite eventful.

New Delhi, May 16: The Congress-JD(S) alliance alleged on Wednesday that the BJP was making attempts to ‘poach’ its MLAs even as the latter claimed it hadn’t approached anyone. Meanwhile, things started heating up as media reports of five Karnataka MLAs going ‘missing’ surfaced just a day after the Congress-JD(S) alliance was hurriedly stitched together just so they could beat the BJP to staking claim to form the government.

ANI reported that JD(S) MLAs Raja Venkatappa Nadagouda didn’t attend the legislative party meeting. Media reports also said that of its 78 Congress MLAs, 12 did not make it to the legislative party meeting. However, KPCC chief G Parameshwara rubbished the claims and said, “All MLAs are intact. Some of them could not attend the meeting as they got late. They were taking a special flight from Bidar.”

BJP’s Basavaraj Bommai said his party was not “approaching any individual” but stressed that “politics is an art of possibility”, according to ANI. However, JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy went on to tell the press that, “They (BJP) are offering Rs 100 crore each to our MLAs.” He also warned the BJP that for the number of MLAs poached, the party would hit back by taking double the number. To that, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said, “Rs 100 crore figure is not only imaginary, it is how the Congress-JD(S) do politics. Horse-trading and poaching is something the Congress is famous for. We play by the rules.”

BJP fell short of a simple majority by just four seats. If media reports are to be believed, an Independent candidate and another from KPJP have offered support to the saffron party. That would take the BJP’s total to 110 but it’ll still be two seats short. The Congress-JD(S) alliance has also claimed the support of two Independents and the sole MLA of the BSP which was a JD(S) partner in this elections. In a scenario like this, the Congress-JD(S) alliance’s worry isn’t entirely unfound. Zee News reported that a resort had been booked to safeguard Congress MLAs against poaching. On being asked if the party had any plan in place to protect its MLAs, Congress leader DK Shivakumar was quoted by ANI as saying, “Yes, definitely there is a plan. We have to safeguard our MLAs, We will let you know what the plan is.”