Berthless' MLAs sitting ducks for BJP?

Bengaluru: Taking advantage of the infighting in the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) over Cabinet berths, the BJP appears to be wooing the disgruntled MLAs of the two parties to join it.

A senior JD(S) MLA said a BJP MLA from Ballari district had contacted him on his mobile phone and asked him to join his party, offering him a Cabinet berth and to compensate him for the money he had spent on the recent assembly poll. But he claimed he had refused the offer and strictly told the BJP leader him not to call again.

The JD(S) MLA, who is a former minister, said the BJP was desperate to come back to power and was prepared to do anything to achieve this. “Though the offer was tempting, I resisted it on principle and ideological grounds. But I cannot comment on my fellow legislators,” he added, maintaining that he had never seen such unethical practice in his 40 years as a politician. “It's not only disgusting, but also shameful on the part of a national party to indulge in such undemocratic practices," he said. 

The JD(S) legislator claimed that like him Congress legislators too had received similar offers from the BJP and while some had brought it to the notice of their party bosses, others had not made it public, He also alleged that the BJP, which emerged the single largest party by winning 104  of the  223 seats in the recent assembly poll, had activated its “money bag legislators” to hunt for Congress and JD(S) MLAs to help it achieve the simple majority of 113.

A number of Congress and JDS MLAs had complained of getting telephone calls from BJP leaders asking them to support it when state BJP chief, B S Yeddyurappa was asked to prove his majority in the House.