Congress MLAs not for sale, Siddaramaiah says on Shinde's prediction of regime's fall in Karnataka after LS poll results

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday rejected his Maharashtra counterpart Eknath Shinde's prediction that the State's Congress regime would fall after the election results were announced, succumbing to an "operation lotus".

The term refers to the BJP 'wooing' MLAs from the Congress camp in a way that the ruling party would lose majority in the assembly and collapse. "The BJP is daydreaming about it," the CM told the media, while predicting a major setback for the NDA in the ongoing polls.

The CM's comments on the BJP came in response to queries on Shinde's remarks that his government would fall just like the Maha Vikas Agadi's (MVA) collapse two years ago. The BJP, the CM added, had been trying this for the past one year but unsuccessful. "None of our MLAs are available for sale," he said, and added that the Congress-led INDI alliance would emerge victorious and one of its leaders would become the Prime Minister.


Shinde, whose joining hands with the BJP led to the downfall of MVA regime, revealed at a meeting in Southern Maharashtra that he heard BJP leaders in Karnataka discussing an operation, like the one involving him. He had assured Karnataka BJP leaders of his support.

Industries & Infrastructure Minister MB Patil said about 20 BJP and JDS MLAs had been in touch with the Congress and would join the party after the Lok Sabha polls. This was not Maharashtra for the BJP to attempt to topple the government, he added.

Instead of the regime change here, Shinde himself would become ex-CM in about two months and MVA would come back to power, he added.

In the Karnataka assembly, the Congress had 136 MLAs, and 89 of them would have to defect to the BJP to overcome the anti-defection Law. But none of them was fool enough to do that. If Shinde could, let him first try to get at least five MLAs on the BJP side, Patil, who comes from the Mumbai-Karnataka region, said.