JOIN USRebellion swells in JD(S), eight MLAs vote for Cong in RS polls
As many as eight JD(S) MLAs openly challenged the party leadership by casting their votes in favour of a Congress candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections held on Saturday.
Though the JD(S) was well aware that five of its MLAs would be cross voting, it was caught off guard when in actuality eight legislators voted for the Congress. The rebels showed their marked ballot papers to senior leader H D Revanna, who was functioning as JD(S) polling agent.
MLAs B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, N Cheluvarayaswamy, H C Balakrishna, Iqbal Ansari and R Akhanda Srinivas Murthy had been vocal about their intentions to go against the party whip to help the Congress. But what shocked the party was MLAs Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda, K Gopalaiah and S Bhima Naik walking into Vidhana Soudha along with the five rebels and casting their votes in favour of the Congress. They were accompanied by JD(S) MLC Puttanna, though he was not a voter.
Khan and Cheluvarayaswamy said they had defied the party leadership knowing fully well that action would be initiated against them. “Let the party take whatever action it wants to,” they said.
Disciplinary action
Conceding defeat even before the election results were announced, JD(S) party president H D Kumaraswamy said that he had made a mistake by not acting against the rebel leaders earlier. Calling the rebels “cancerous,” he said that the party has now decided to initiate disciplinary action against them. “They are like cancer. If it is left untreated, the disease will spread. The rebels have poisoned the party. There is no point in them trying to patch things up after suffering so much damage. The JD(S) has lost the elections because it was back-stabbed by the Independent MLAs and the rebels,” he added.
Though the party candidate B M Farook maintained that he was confident about winning the polls, there was a sombre mood among the JD(S) MLAs all through the voting process. They came and cast their votes with fallen faces, having resolved to the fact that the party had lost its plot.
Only Revanna put up a fight in the losing battle. Revanna, who usually remains away from the party affairs, vociferously fought against Energy Minister D K Shivakumar who has been charged of “orchestrating” the polls and denting JD(S)’s prospects.
The JD(S) is holding meeting on Sunday at Palace Grounds in Bengaluru to take a decision against the rebels. It is learnt that the MLAs will be first suspended, following which an inquiry committee will be constituted to probe the anti party activities.