Operation Lotus fails again

Bengaluru, Jan 17: Another attempt gone down the drain. The ambitious plan by the Karnataka BJP to topple the ruling JD(S)-Congress coalition in the state suffered a setback after some rebels developed cold feet.

Some of the disgruntled Congress MLAs began backing out and were seen gradually returning to their home turf even as allegations of the BJP trying to poach them were reported widely.

For the BJP the operation was a tough one. For it to be able to succeed in installing its government, it needed to bring down the House strength from 224 to 211. This meant at least 14 Congress MLAs had to resign. However the rebels realised that their resignations would make no difference as they were just 4 to 5 of them. They were also not able to convince others to join them.

In addition to this they were also aware that the Speaker of the House could defer taking any decision on their resignations. Congress General Secretary, K C Venugopal said that the operation by the BJP had failed. They had been trying to poach our MLAs through illegal means, he also added.

Meanwhile B S Yeddyurappa told the BJP MLAs, who are lodged in a plush hotel in Gurgaon that the operation had been dropped. He said that they had expected at least 12 to 15 Congress MLAs to resign, but that did not happen. He also said that he had been assured that at least 12 would resign, but they backtracked.