The ruling BJP which had engineered Operation Kamala to lure MLAs from the Congress and JD(S) to come to power in 2008, got a taste of its own medicine on Monday when as many as 12 of its MLAs cross-voted for other party candidates and victorious Independent, Bhairati Suresh.
Though the party managed to ensure the victory of all its six candidates, party managers are sure that the majority of those who cross-voted, are those who entered its fold during Operation Kamala. As a party source quipped, ‘Reverse Operation Kamala’ was in operation during the poll. With 120 members in the Assembly, each of the BJP candidates should have bagged 20 votes each but some of them including Vimala Gowda got much less.
Quite aware of the fact that a post-mortem of the results would only open a can of worms, the party has decided against it at this stage. "I think we knew who they are. Since we won all our seats, the party may not bother to take action against them. We would have pressed the panic button if any of our candidates had lost," sources said.
According to the sources, the MLAs the party suspects of cross-voting include, Y. Sampangi, J. Narasimha Swamy, Nelamangala Nagaraj, Somashekhar Reddy, T.H. Suresh Babu and a few MLAs loyal to municipal administration minister, Balachandra Jarkiholi who joined the BJP after the 2008 polls. "We were left red faced. They may have been induced so they did not care for the party whip," a leader said adding that it was time BJP leaders realised that these legislators were not trustworthy.
The buzz in political circles is that these MLAs were offered Rs 1.5 crore per vote. The issue may come up for discussion when BJP state president K.S. Eshwarappa, returns from Shimoga later this week. Another reason for the MLAs cross-voting could that some of them—including those close to jailed mine baron Janardhan Reddy— know they will not get party tickets in the next Assembly elections.
"So why not ‘cash’ in on the volatile situation and better their prospects?" a leader explained. Surprisingly, those considered close to former chief minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa—whose relations with the BJP leadership are anything but cordial—did not go against the whip to vote for party candidates. "If they had violated the party directive, some of our candidates would have surely lost," sources said.