Bengaluru: Deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar said on Tuesday that the cross-voting and violation of whip by two rebel MLAs — S T Somashekhar and Arabail Shivaram Hebbar was an indication that the ‘alliance’ between JD(S) and BJP was not working.
Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress president, told reporters that BJP-JD(S) alliance was also rejected in the recent byelections to Bangalore teachers’ constituency.
Taking dig at BJP, Shivakumar said the saffron party was on the backfoot ever since voting began for the polls to the Upper House of parliament.
Reacting to cross-voting by BJP MLAs, JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy said his party fielded Kupendra Reddy as the fifth candidate to drive home the point that the JD(S) MLAs were together. This put an end to speculations that JD(S) would soon be disintegrated.
“Rumours were floating that our party MLA Sharangouda Kandakur will cross vote or abstain from voting. But his presence and voting in favour of Reddy proved all calculations wrong,” he said. On Somashekhar cross-voting, Kumaraswamy said the former was one of the legislators instrumental in toppling the coalition government headed by him (Kumaraswamy) in 2019.
“People will give him a befitting reply soon for this betrayal,” the former CM said.
Published 27 February 2024, 22:33 IST