JOIN USThe MLA accompanied by his son Nagesh Preetham arrived at the KRS helipad around 12.30 pm and joined Cheluvarayaswamy to fly by a private helicopter to Goa, where the BJP rebel MLAs are camping for the past two days.
The developments happened within minutes. Police and JD(S) activists present there were caught by surprise by the move. Cheluvarayaswamy arrived around 12.20 pm at the travellers’ bungalow, where he had a tea. He only revealed to his activists that a friend was to arrive. Within minutes, Shankaralingegowda arrived with his son.
The trio boarded the chopper and flew to Bangalore, JD(S) activists said. Gowda had avoided meeting Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Friday, when the latter visited his house in Mysore. Minister for Energy Shobha Karandlaje had met the MLA on Friday evening and had appealed him to support the chief minister in the trust vote on October 11.
Number game
The fate of the Yeddyurappa government is oscillating. The strength of BJP and JD(S) is changing on hourly basis. As on Saturday evening, the parties’ strength:
* Total: 225 (Including Anglo Indian)
* BJP: 104
* Cong: 73
* JD(S): 27*
* Independent: 06
* BJP rebels: 12
* Speaker: 1
* Anglo-Indian: 1
* JD(S) rebel: 1
* Channapatna MLA
M C Ashwath of JD(S) believed to have hopped to the ruling party camp