'Operation Lotus': Cong-JD(S) to parade MLAs before Guv

The Congress-JD(S) combine may knock on Karnataka Governor Vajubhai R Vala’s door to ward off “threats” posed by the BJP.

Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara on Friday, said the alliance partners might take all their legislators to Raj Bhavan with a complaint that the BJP was trying to lure them through ‘Operation Lotus’ - a moniker referring to poaching legislators.

“We will decide when to go to Raj Bhavan soon. The way the BJP is behaving, we will have to take all our MLAs and make them stand in front of the Governor and tell him that the BJP is luring them by offering money and power,” Parameshwara told reporters in Bengaluru.

Parameshwara joined the list of top coalition leaders, including Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah, in attacking the BJP.

“The priority for the coalition is to run the government effectively. In the Cabinet meet last night, we discussed various issues such as drought and floods. But the BJP seems least interested; and their only goal is to destabilize the government. But they will not succeed,” Parameshwara said, adding that BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa’s attempts at becoming chief minister again would not come true.

On the speculation that legislators from the Congress-JD(S) coalition may switch sides, Parameshwara stressed that there was no threat to the government. “The government is stable. No legislator from either Congress or the JD(S) will go to the BJP.”

The BJP is up in arms over Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s remark that he would ask people to revolt against Yeddyurappa. The saffron party has said it was “unbecoming” of a chief minister to incite public.

Parameshwara, who is Kumaraswamy’s deputy in the coalition, defended him. “We should go to the root of why he said that. He was only reacting to the BJP. When you speak ill of a CM, it’s natural that the reciprocation will be equally serious in nature,” Parameshwara said.