BENGALURU: While there is a lot of speculation about what will happen on July 12, when Governor Vajubhai Vala is scheduled to call on the coalition to prove its majority, if BJP sources are to be believed, hectic preparations are underway to accommodate father-daughter duo Ramalinga Reddy and Soumya Reddy with plum portfolios.
Sources in the BJP said that the entire situation in Karnataka was being monitored by the two major leaders of the BJP in New Delhi and events have unfolded so far as they had envisioned it.
On July 4, a few BJP leaders, accompanied by BJP National General Secretary Muralidhar Rao, met Ramalinga Reddy at his residence.
The meeting is believed to have been engineered by Krishnam Raju, a former KPCC official, said to have close ties to the Congress as well as the BJP.
“The party has decided on the next course of action. We have it all planned,” a senior leader from the BJP said. However, the plan for the moment is to wait for the government to fall on its own, which is, in any case, is on a fast track.
“Top leaders at the centre do not want to be blamed for the collapse of the government. No knee-jerk reactions will take place. They might even just wait and watch and allow the President’s rule to be imposed in the state,” a highly placed BJP source said. The air is rife that a new government is round the corner.
Three MLAs likely to go back to Congress
Also, leaders like Ramalinga Reddy won’t join the BJP immediately, sources said. According to them Soumya Reddy, Ramalinga Reddy’s daughter, will move from Jayanagar constituency to BTM Layout, contest from there for BJP and will be given a minister’s post.
While three of the MLAs who resigned could go back to the Congress fold, the BJP has planned for this eventuality as well, sources said.
“The party has already listed out three names to replace MLAs Somashekar, Munirathna and Byrathi Basavaraju even if they leave the group,” the source said.
Congress rebel Roshan Baig and Anjali Nimbalkar could also figure as part of the plans.
Meanwhile, there is speculation among party leaders of a meeting to be held on Tuesday, after Speaker Ramesh Kumar takes a call on the resignations.
The BJP is counting on the Speaker saying that he would review the resignations on Tuesday.
“The only option besides accepting the resignations is that he can buy time by asking them to appear individually in front of him or in a group and ask them if they have resigned under pressure. If any of them back out at this time, the BJP has another plan in place,” a source from the party said.
The Congress is also alleging that some of the MLAs were asked to resign under threat by a few central agencies.
“Agencies like the ED and the Income Tax department were used to threaten a few of our MLAs. It is a tactic by the BJP,” a Congress leader said.