Treat winners and losers equally: M T B Nagaraj tells B S Yediyurappa

Demanding that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa should keep his word, disqualified legislator M T B Nagaraj said “equal importance” should be given to those who won and lost the recent bypolls and all of them should be accommodated in the Cabinet.

“The question of winning or losing the bypolls does not arise as the government was formed only due to the sacrifice of 17 MLAs (who defected),” Nagaraj said on Wednesday. Nagaraj and A H Vishwanath were the only two MLAs who lost the December bypolls after switching to the BJP.

“We will not exert pressure on the chief minister,” Nagaraj said, adding that he would “wait and watch” before taking a decision. KR Pet MLA Narayana Gowda, who is among the 17 MLAs who defected, said that all those who quit the previous Congress-JD(S) coalition should be accommodated in the Cabinet.