Poaching threat: We won’t keep quiet, C T Ravi warns Congress
Senior BJP leader C T Ravi on Saturday warned the Congress of “strong retaliation” if the ruling party goes “overboard” in terms of poaching lawmakers.
“If anything overboard is done, we know what to do. Don’t we know how to save our party? We know how to build it. We know how to give a befitting political reply,” Ravi told reporters at the BJP headquarters, where he held talks with disgruntled Yeshwantpur MLA S T Somashekar.
Ravi said the Congress, with 135 MLAs plus four independents, should aim to provide good governance.
“If you do anything extreme... I won’t say what’ll happen then,” he said. “We won’t keep quiet.”
The former BJP national general secretary expressed confidence that no BJP MLA would quit. “Nobody will go, especially when it is clear that all is not well in the Congress,” Ravi said.
Speaking to reporters, Somashekar said he is “mentally and physically” with the BJP.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, the Karnataka Congress president, slammed the BJP for poaching lawmakers in other states.
“What did the BJP do in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra? It’s right if the BJP does it and wrong if Congress does? Whatever needs to be done based on the prevailing situation will be done,” Shivakumar said.
IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge claimed that BJP MLAs from the Kalyana Karnataka region were in touch with them (Congress).
“Why shouldn’t they be in touch (with us)? Some of them are miffed that the region did not see development,” he said.
However, Priyank said the Congress does not need to conduct ‘Operation Hasta’.
“If that is done, half of the BJP and all of JD(S) will be wiped out,” he said.
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C T RAVI
BJP leader
“If anything overboard is done we know what to do. Don’t we know how to save our party? We know how to build it. We know how to give a befitting political reply.