Rajya Sabha poll: How Karnataka Congress sweetened its deal

BENGALURU: Contrary to claims by senior Congress leaders that independents and rebel Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs voted voluntarily for ruling party candidates in Rajya Sabha polls, details of how they sweetened the deal to secure more than adequate votes for former police officer, K.C. Ramamurthy, have come to light.

Sources in Congress said these MLAs were hosted in a posh hotel near Vidhana Soudha. The party which had worked out a clever strategy to monitor each vote allowed these MLAs to come for voting at the eleventh hour.

Soon after all party MLAs cast their votes, independents and MLAs of small parties were brought in and closely monitored by Congress election agent, D.K. Shivakumar himself.

Once the independents and small parties’ MLAs finished voting and left the polling booth, Congress leaders took stock of the situation and then those of JD (S) were called in to vote.

If one were to go by leaders who worked with senior leaders to woo Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs, these MLAs are likely to get richer by Rs 2 to 3 crores.

“Three Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs, Akhanda Srinivas, K. Gopalaiah and Zameer Ahmed Khan all from the city might have struck a deal with our leaders for party tickets for Assembly elections in  2018. This deal besides major projects for their constituencies sweetened the deal,” sources added.

Mr Cheluvarayaswamy and Mr Balakrishna are likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party as Mr Cheluvarayaswamy has already met state unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Party B.S. Yeddyurappa leading to speculation that they discussed the political future of the former Janata Dal (Secular) minister.

Ruling party’s 2-point formula bags 3
The ruling Congress party on Saturday adopted a two-pronged strategy to ensure an easy victory for all three of its nominees in Rajya Sabha polls on Saturday.

First, in order to ensure a smooth sail for former Union ministers — Oscar Fernandes and Jairam Ramesh — the party asked 45 MLAs to vote in a batch for each of these leaders, while for its third nominee — K.C. Rammurthy — it allotted votes of 12 independent MLAs and eight JD (S) rebels besides 31 MLAs of the party.

Even though, it was an open ballot system, independents are exempt from showing their ballot to any agent.  Congress leaders, however, worked out a strategy to identify independents too: allot a particular serial number ballot paper to each of them. Thus, the Congress could spot a mole incase anyone double crossed them. Despite taking such precaution, an independent reportedly voted in favor of JD (S) candidate B. M. Farookh.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior leader said “Though we fielded three candidates, the central leaders had given us clear instructions to ensure the victory of Mr Fernandes and Mr Ramesh, without any confusion. Therefore, we decided to allot only 45 votes in first phase after ensuring correct voting of 45 MLAs for Mr Fernandes. Then, we asked the other 45 Congress MLAs to vote for Mr Ramesh and the party did not transfer single vote to Mr Ramamurthy till the leaders were sure of victory of these two veterans.”

The leader added that JD(S) leader, H. D. Revanna, created a ruckus over providing an assistant to Congress legislator, G. Ram Krishna, the leaders swiftly ensured that two additional votes were allotted Mr Ramesh and an extra vote for Mr Feranandes as matter of precaution.

The leader added  that once the party was sure of both leaders victory, the party allotted remaining votes to Mr Ramamurthy and in the meantime, Congress party leaders were also busy in identifying “proper serial numbered ballot papers” to allot it to independents.

“It was to ensure that independents had voted them. Already the party had come under severe media scrutiny over its operation airlift, last week, the party leaders did not want to take any chances; therefore, they allotted different sequenced serial numbers to each of the independents. That serial number was noted down privately and they cross verified it once counting was taking place,” the leader explained.