Bengaluru, Feb 7: The on-going cat and mouse game between the Congress leadership and rebel MLAs is headed for a climax as decisive action is expected from either side on Friday when chief minister HD Kumaraswamy presents the second budget of his current stint.
Congress leaders’ worry appeared accentuated as it wasn’t just the four rebel MLAs who did not turn up for the opening day of the session. Three others, including former minister Ramalinga Reddy, BC Patil and Reddy’s daughter Sowmya Reddy, were absent. Another Congress MLA JN Ganesh, who is absconding after assaulting party colleague Anand Singh in a resort on January 21, did not surface either.
“In total, seven Congress MLAs did not attend the session today,” chief whip Ganesh Hukkeri said. “Barring the four rebels, all others had taken permission.”
In the JD(S) camp, KC Narayana Gowda (Krishnarajapet in Mandya district) was absent. However, he is reported to have told party leaders that he could not attend due to ill-health.
The four rebel Congress MLAs — Ramesh Jarkiholi, former minister, Umesh Jadhav from Chincholi, Mahesh Kumatalli from Athani and B Nagendra from Ballari Rural — have allegedly been camping in Mumbai for the past one month and abstained from proceedings despite a party whip. This prompted a jittery Congress leadership to issue a fresh whip in the evening, asking rebels to attend a legislators’ meeting convened on Friday at 9am.
“You have defied the whip twice already. If you defy it on Friday, the party will definitely seek your disqualification,” Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiahreportedly warned the rebels over the phone on Wednesday.
Congress appears in a disconcerting position. It now is compelled to bring all its legislators to the House either on Friday when the budget is presented, or on the day the budget (finance bill) is tabled for passage. At the same time, it is not in a position to act against the rebels considering the wafer-thin majority the coalition partners have in the assembly and with the BJP waiting to topple the government.
“The Congress is caught in a very strange situation where neither it can act nor sit idle,” said a senior Congress minister. “This has emboldened the rebels.”
But another minister said: “They (rebels) cannot keep this game going on forever. They have to make their stand clear before the finance bill is passed.”
Second whip defied
This is the second whip the four rebels have ignored. They also defied a whip to attend the legislature party meeting convened by Siddaramaiah on January 18. To keep the Congress-JD(S) flock together, DyCM G Parameshwara hosted a dinner for MLAs at a hotel in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
BJP MLAs too absent
Absenteeism wasn’t limited to the ruling coalition though. Some BJP legislators too missed the opening day of the session. In what seemed a move to track its MLAs, senior BJP leaders including opposition leader BS Yeddyurappa was caught on camera passing chits with names of those who were absent.
Yeddyurappa was seen reading a chit on the whereabouts of three MLAs — G Karunakara Reddy (Harapanahalli), Doddangouda Patil (Hungund) and B Chandrappa (Holalkere). It said Karunakara, brother of tainted mining baron G Janaradhana Reddy, was "not answering calls" and Patil was "reaching Bengaluru by 4 pm". Karunakara's name is being rumoured as one of the MLAs being courted by the coalition to switch sides.
After reading the chit, Yeddyurappa tore it up.
Cong may suspend two rebels on Friday
Congress leaders who met over dinner on Wednesday decided to suspend two of the four rebel MLAs on Friday if they did not turn up for the CLP meeting.
"Party leaders are hoping that such action will instill fear in the other two," said a senior Congress MLA who attended the meeting.
The meeting was attended by deputy chief minister G Parameshwara, former CM Siddaramaiah and AICC general secretary KC Venugopal. Leaders are also said to have decided to shift their MLAs to a resort immediately after the presentation of the budget on Friday till the time the budget is passed.
Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah alleged the BJP had approached a JD(S) MLA, promising him a windfall in cash to switch sides. “BJP leaders visited the house of a JD(S) leader yesterday and offered him Rs 30 crore cash,” Siddaramaiah said. “But the MLA did not oblige. Similarly, they have left Rs 5 crore in the house of another MLA without saying anything. I wonder from where they (BJP leaders) are getting so much money.”
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
Comments
Add new comment