BJP puts brakes on Operation Lotus as Jarkiholis relent

Bengaluru: With the rebellion by the Jarkiholi brothers appearing to fizzle out following their talks with former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Chief Minister H.D.Kumaraswamy, the  BJP, which had made overtures to the unhappy Congress MLAs, has decided to drop its  attempts to topple the state government, at least for now.  But BJP leaders feel the peace talks with the Jarkiholi brothers have only achieved a temporary truce and the rebellion within the Congress will continue to simmer and could arise once again during the expansion of the Cabinet, according to party sources. 

It’s claimed the party has been forced to put the brakes on its “Operation Lotus” for other reasons too.   Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, who owns sugar factories in Maharashtra had reportedly met top BJP leaders for help to bail him out in a crisis with  his business and was allegedly offered a quid pro quo – help with his factories in return for  helping the BJP seize power in Karnataka. But BJP leaders allegedly did not come up with the “resources” they had promised him by the given deadline of Tuesday and with Mr Jarkiholi  too failing to muster the support of the 16 to 18 MLAs he had promised, the deal fell through, the sources claim.

Meanwhile, BJP legislators who were summoned by their state party  chief, B S Yeddyurappa, arrived in Bengaluru to  attend a few committee meetings in Vidhana Soudha on Tuesday, and later met him at his  Dollars Colony residence.

Mr. Yeddyurappa has reportedly called a BJP Legislature Party meeting on Wednesday to discuss the coming elections to the Legislative Council. The BJP is said to banking on possible cross voting in the elections owing to the rebellion among some Congress MLAs to help it win some seats.  The BJPLP meeting is expected to  instruct its MLAs to keep united and not be lured by any attempts at poaching by the Congress or JDS.