Shobha Karandlaje accuses Congress of tapping BJP leaders’ phones

Banerjee tweeted, “If the Congress had gone into an alliance with the JD (S), the result would have been different”.

“It is only due to the great leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah that the BJP emerged as the single biggest party in Karnataka”. Statewide, BJP’s winning margins were not so much different – Congress was 15,818 while BJP’s was 18,954′. So this raises a huge question on the chance of a union between Congress and JD (S). BJP’s rivals claim “Operation Lotus” was initiated by the then BJP chief minister BS Yeddyurappa where he allegedly gained the support of some opposition party MLAs using money and power.

Mayawati had earlier bailed out Congress government in Uttarakhand in 2016 and its two MLAs voted for it in the floor test following disqualification of its nine MLAs who defected to BJP camp. G. Parameshwara, President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, spoke to the media: “We accept the mandate of the people”. Congress party’s matriarch Sonia Gandhi telephoned H.D.Deve Gowda.

Congress’s showing in Karnataka, falling well short of government formation, will buoy the spirits of regional parties like Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool and K Chandrashekhar Rao’s Telangana Rashtriya Samithi who have been pushing the “federal front” proposition where Congress is one among equals.

However, outgoing CM Siddaramaiah was quick to rubbish such reports. The elections results were announced on Tuesday, but the drama seems to be not ending any time soon. It was followed by the Janata Dal (United) at 55 seats. He refuted Kumaraswamy’s allegations of H D Kumaraswamy that BJP is offering Rs 100 crore to JD (S) MLAs and said that “Yeddyurappa will be swearing in” as planned. This has made it hard for the newly elected legislators to cross sides, with even an Independent MLA who was seen floating in both camps, returning to the Congress fold as it were.

She added that the party has written to the Lok Sabha Speaker, the Home Minister and the IG, DG of Karnataka to take action immediately. He added the BJP can’t form the government without having enough numbers. “I got a call from the BJP leaders”.

Congress MP and senior advocate Kapil Sibal said: “The governor of Karnataka is bound by the Constitution and the order of the Supreme Court”.

Finally they managed an audience with the Governor and one after the other requested him to call the two parties to form government as they had the requisite numbers. Most of this new vote has most likely come to BJP from JD (S) and others – in seats like Kadur and Mudigere in the central Vokkaliga heartland.

Sources close to Rahul Gandhi agreed that Sonia Gandhi was the “architect” of the plan, but said Rahul met with Ahmed Patel, Azad and Ashok Gehlot, before they left for Bengaluru, with instructions to keep the BJP out of Karnataka at all costs.

Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had won 75 seats, emerging as the largest party in the state, though not enough to form a majority on its own.

Incumbent Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah was involved in a neck and neck contest with BJP’s candidate B. Sriramulu in the Badami constituency.