Karnataka BJP president Nalinkumar Kateel claimed that as of now, 15 congress MLAs are in touch with him.
Karnataka BJP president Nalinkumar Kateel (L) and Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. (Photo: Twitter/nalinkateel)
Karnataka BJP president Nalinkumar Kateel has raised eyebrows with his claim that 15 Congress MLAs are in touch with him. This comes days after newly appointed BJP MLC Yogeshwar claimed that the Janata Dal Secular (JDS) and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, a Congress ally, are supporting the BJP.
“I won’t comment on what Yogeshwar said. However, as of now, 15 congress MLAs are in touch with me,” Nalinkumar Kateel said.
It was only last year when more than 15 Congress MLAs dumped the party to bring down the JDS-Congress government. All of them later joined the BJP, contested by-elections and many became ministers in the BS Yediyurappa government. In this context, the claims made by the Karnataka BJP president have given rise to murmurs of whether there is another ‘Operation Kamala’ in the offing.
Recently, BJP MLC Yogeshwar had claimed that HD Kumaraswamy is going “soft” on the BJP and Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. “If you see Kumaraswamy’s behaviour of late, he’s giving us support to our government. It is because DK brothers torture him in Ramanagara district. It is HD Kumaraswamy’s own constituency. He’s losing ground there, so he’s speaking against the Congress.”
However, countering this narrative, senior Congress leader and former CM Siddaramaiah said 20 BJP MLAs are in touch with him. Even though he had this mockingly, political pundits see this as a new development in the state.
Earlier, Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar had said BJP MLC Yogeshwar has “confessed to him that the BJP is planning to remove BS Yediyurappa as the CM”.
In the coming month, Karnataka is expected to have a cabinet reshuffle.
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