A whip signed by JD(S) Legislature Party leader Kumaraswamy was issued to all MLAs at the JD(S)LP meeting, directing them to vote against the trust vote.

Sources said that some of the shocked legislators even threatened to defy the whip. Magadi Balakrishna was the first to announce that he would defy it. He was followed by N Chaluvarayaswamy, who not only opposed the move, but also threatened to retire from active politics if the party did not support the BJP.

Nagamani Nagegowda and other women MLAs are said to have urged Kumaraswamy not to let them down at this juncture.

The MLAs’ uneasiness with the party’s move to issue the whip was quite visible at the Assembly. None of them came forward to defend the party’s move. Many of them even avoided the media.

 Though all MLAs had a copy of whip in their pockets, none was willing to execute it in the House. “At last, they (father-son) achieved what they wanted. We always had a doubt that something may go wrong with the Yeddyurappa-led Government. And it happened. Their assurance to align with the Congress is again bluff. They will ensure that the Assembly is dissolved,” one of the JD(S) legislators said.

The MLAs, sources said, were opposed to Gowda’s conditions to the BJP. It was due to the pressure from MLAs that Kumaraswamy had announced unconditional support to the BJP - which he  did not stick to.

Then why didn’t MLAs revolt against Gowdas at Monday’s JD(S)LP? According to sources, the senior and junior Gowdas had anticipated that something would go wrong, and were prepared for it. “Gowda assured MLAs in the meeting that he was working on an alternative (to join hands with the Congress). This was enough to keep the legislators’ mouth shut, at least for now. Hence, all MLAs collected copies of the whip and meekly walked towards Vidhana Soudha to vote against Yeddyurappa,” sources pointed out.

  JD(S) RALLY POSTPONED
Bangalore, DHNS:  The much-hyped ‘show-of-strength’ rally of the JD(S) scheduled to be held on November 21 at Palace grounds in Bangalore, has been postponed indefinitely, after the fall seven-day old B S Yeddyurappa Government.

Former CM H D Kumaraswamy said that the rally will be held in a week or two. The party had planned to organise the rally to coincide with its MLAs taking oath as the minister in Yeddyurappa’s ministry.