A tale of failed strategy

 
The only achievement the Congress party leadership can boast of is that none of the party MLAs shifted their loyalty at the last minute. Till Wednesday evening, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah did his best to work out plans to share power with the JD (S). However, for media consumption he and other Congress leaders insisted that they have got nothing to do with the games played by the JD (S). 

Siddaramaiah and JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy met at former Union Minister C M Ibrahim’s residence a month ago and since then the developments pointing at a rebellion in the ruling BJP followed. The Congress leader met party high command and returned with approval for the strategies from the party’s leaders in Delhi.

While Kumaraswamy tried to woo the BJP rebels by meeting them in Chennai and Goa, Congress leaders petitioned the Governor several times against the Speaker’s move to disqualify the rebels, indicating that they are for ousting the BJP.

 The Congress-JD(S) joint game plan became public when JD(S) leader M C Nanaiah met Congress leaders at Siddaramaiah’s residence soon after 19 MLAs rebelled against
Yeddyurappa’s rule. Since then the Congress began its efforts to keep its flock intact, so that BJP do not poach any of its members to save the government.

Both the parties took objection to the governor’s decision for second floor test as soon as they learnt that they did not have numbers on their side.

After the BJP winning the trust vote, Siddaramaiah said the BJP faced problems because of its inner differences. But the fact remains that the Congress failed to cash in on the differences within the BJP.