No BJP MLA will join the Congress. But Congress leaders Siddaramaiah or D.K. Shivakumar may join the BJP instead, and BJP leader and MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal said in Vijayapura on Sunday.
The two Congress leaders are fighting among themselves. It is likely that one of them will join the BJP. The fight is so severe that Mr. Siddaramaiah will quit the Congress for sure, he told journalists. “Mr. Siddaramaiah is counting his last days in the Congress. His condition in that party is not stable. He will soon quit,’’ he said.
Asked if he was joking, he said that he is very serious about what he is saying as he has inside information. “But if these leaders want to join the BJP, then senior party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, will take a decision, he said.
“Why do you think Mr. Shivakumar oragnised the Mekedatu padayatra? It is to cement his position as the next chief minister candidate. Participants in the padayatra raised slogans like ‘Shivakumar will be the next chief minister’ and Mr. Siddarmaiah had to keep quiet. This is the real reason why the march was organised,’’ he said.
He denied as baseless rumours reports that BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Lakshman Savadi will join the Congress. He is not such a low-level leader. He is a man of dignity. The party made him Deputy Chief Minister, though he had lost the Assembly polls. He remembers that, Mr. Yatnal said. He said he has no idea about MLC Lakhan Jarkiholi’s claim that Mr. Savadi is in touch with Mr. Shivakumar. Such rumours are common before elections, he said.
Asked if he is planning to build a new party along with the former Minister and BJP MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, he said that he has neither the intention nor money to do so.
“I am an original BJP leader. Why will I quit?’’ he asked. “Moreover, we don’t have the funds for it. What have we done to make money? Have we looted someone? Had we done so, we could have formed a new party. It is not easy to run a regional party. When H.D. Deve Gowda’s party has collapsed, how can you expect a new regional party to succeed?’’ he said.
He said that he is not afraid of leaders like Murugesh Nirani. “My politics is different. I am not afraid of people like Mr. Nirani. I brought him into the BJP and ensured that he got party ticket,’’ he said.
