How Karnataka BJP’s mandate on acquiring 7 MLA’s support failed

| First Published May 20, 2018, 5:46 PM IST

While the Saffron party was confident at getting the required 8 MLAs onto their side, the Congress-JD(S) had quite a few things that fell into place at the right time for them. H D Kumarswamy will be sworn in as Chief Minister of Karnataka on Wednesday (May23). This comes after a hectic week and a nail biting finish for the Congress-JD(S) post poll alliance, which will form the Government.

Let us have a look at what were the key factors that played out in favour of the Congress-JD(S) alliance in forming the Government.

With the Supreme Court’s ruling for a sudden Floor Test on Saturday (May 19), the BJP was making last minute attempts at luring in MLAs from the Congress-JD(S) post poll alliance in order to get the required majority and form the Government.

While the Saffron party was confident at getting the required 8 MLAs onto their side, the Congress-JD(S) had quite a few things that fell into place at the right time for them.  H D Kumarswamy will be sworn in as Chief Minister of Karnataka on Wednesday (May23). This comes after a hectic week and a nail biting finish for the Congress-JD(S) post poll alliance, which will form the Government.

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Let us have a look at what were the key factors that played out in favour of the Congress-JD(S) alliance in forming the Government.

1.       Supreme Court Judgment

After being sworn in as Chief Minister of Karnataka, B S Yeddyurapppa had 15 days in hand to gather a majority to form the Government. Following which the Congress-JD(S) alliance had filed a petition to the Apex Court asking for a clarification for the procedure on the grounds that the swearing in of the Chief Minister was unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court’s judgment had immediately set the floor test date for the assembly, curbing the Governor’s 15-day deadline to just 28 hours from announcement. This had a severe impact on the BJP as it did not have enough time for gathering enough support.

2.       Resorting to the Resort

On Thursday (May 17), Congress-JD(S) MLAs were moved overnight to the Eagleton Resort in Bidadi (outskirts of Bengaluru). This came at a time when BJP leaders were desperate to gather MLAs from the other parties. Congress leader D K Shivakumar took the lead again along with his brother D K Suresh in securing the flock and successfully cutting off any mode of communication with those MLAs. D K Shivakumar was responsible for the 40 odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat who were willing to switch over during 2017 Gujarat Elections.

3.       Audio Tapes

On Saturday the Congress had released audio tapes of alleged conversations between Yeddyurappa and other BJP leaders trying to lure in Congress MLAs, which portrayed a very negative image for the Saffron Party. This came hours before the Floor Test, proving to the public that the BJP lacked the required support to make the Majority.

4.       The Missing MLAs

Finally, the missing MLAs, who were allegedly presumed to be in the horse trading ruckus, had returned to the Congress party after 3 days. Pledging their alliance to the party  and indicating that party was successful in keeping its herd together yet again.