Mysuru: As part of “Operation Hasta”, all the BJP and JD(S) leaders who believe in the ideologies of the Congress would be inducted in the party, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said here on Monday.
Speaking to reporters, he attacked BJP saying that it has gone bankrupt in the state. They are not able to appoint a Leader of Opposition even after almost 100 days of the government formation.
“This had never happened in the history of Karnataka for any opposition party,” CM Siddaramaiah ridiculed.
Meanwhile, sources stated that the Congress has evolved a strategy to pull the leaders from opposition parties. The lower cadre leaders and local leaders are being targetted and poached in the first phase.
Later, when the top leader comes under pressure as he loses his large chunk of trusted aides, the Congress top leadership will establish contact with him and pull him into the party. The task of executing the work has been given to cabinet ministers.
Sources also explain that Minister for Agriculture N. Cheluvarayaswamy, once the right hand of former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, is entrusted with the work of pulling maximum leaders from JD (S).
He is being asked to pull MLAs, former MLAs and prominent leaders. Cheluvarayaswamy and Kumaraswamy had almost come to confrontation during the budget Assembly session over an
alleged letter to the Governor. Kumaraswamy had alleged that Cheluvarayaswamy was collecting money for transfers from officers.
Most of the local leaders and aides of former minister and BJP MLA S.T. Somashekar had already joined the Congress. Some of them have openly stated that they will ensure that Somashekar joins Congress.
DyCM D.K. Shivakumar had announced that anything is possible in politics. He had also chided BJP leadership for toppling elected governments in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The party is planning to pull 10 to 15 sitting MLAs ahead of elections to Lok Sabha.
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