Bengaluru: Since Saturday morning it was anxious moments for BJP leaders as they tried hard to get the support of the required number of MLAs to prove their majority in the state Assembly, but their hopes collapsed following the oath taking of Congress MLAs, Anand Singh and Prathap Patil, who were in their camp till the afternoon.
The party’s confidence had suffered a jolt on Friday itself following the Supreme Court’s direction to Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to prove his majority in 24 hours, but its leaders continued to make desperate attempts to reach Lingayat MLAs of the Congress and JD(S) MLAs from North Karnataka.
On Saturday also, BJP leaders, huddled in a room adjacent to the CM’s chamber for more discussions, even tried reaching out to Lingayat MLAs of the Congress at the last moment, but their mobiles were not reachable owing to the jammers installed in the House and Assembly lounge.
BJP MLAs were clueless
Since Saturday morning it was anxious moments for BJP leaders as they tried hard to get the support of the required number of MLAs to prove their majority in the state Assembly, but their hopes collapsed following the oath taking of Congress MLAs, Anand Singh and Prathapgowda Patil, who were in their camp till the afternoon.
While it became clear to the BJP’s central leaders and state BJP core committee members that it didn’t have the required numbers, party MLAs were clueless about this and hoped till the afternoon that president Amit Shah would do his magic and obtain the required numbers to give it the majority it needed.
Once the MLAs had taken oath in the Assembly, Mr Yeddyurappa returned to his chamber, where Union Ministers, Prakash Javadekar, J.P. Nadda, Ananthkumar and D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Karnataka BJP in-charge, Muralidhar Rao, and other leaders were waiting for him. Having greater clarity about the MLAs on their side, they discussed the future course of action while Mr Javadekar and Mr Nadda remained in constant touch with Mr Amit Shah.
