Close on the heels of the speculation on several BJP MLAs from Bengaluru getting ready to switch loyalties to the ruling Congress started gaining momentum, the BJP took to preventive measures by holding a meeting of its city MLAs under the leadership of party veteran and former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Friday.
Though former Ministers S.T. Somashekar and Bhyrati Basavaraj did not attend the meeting, BJP leader R. Ashok said they were in touch with the party leaders and had taken permission to skip the meeting due to other pre-occupations.
Former Ministers Munirathna and K. Gopalaiah, who too were on the list of BJP MLAs being speculated to join the Congress, clarified that they would continue to stay in the BJP and that they would sit in the Opposition for the next five years.
BJP leader and former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai termed the reports on some BJP MLAs getting ready to join the Congress as a conspiracy by the ruling party to divert public attention from its own MLAs rebelling against their leadership. At the same time, he said BJP leaders were in touch with the MLAs who were being speculated to join the Congress.
He said he had brought some of the local problems that existed in the constituencies of these MLAs to the notice of the party State president so that they could be resolved.
He accused the Congress government of indulging in a dictatorial attitude by trying to launch an offensive against those questioning its decisions. He alleged that the Congress government was targeting even the contractors who had approached the Governor and the Opposition seeking clearance of their pending bills. “This shows that the Congress has turned the State into a police raj to create fear psychosis,” he said.
