BJP gears up for polls in Karnataka

With 13 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) supporting former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa resigning, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is preparing for Assembly elections in the southern state.

Party leaders said there was an application before Speaker K Bopaiah to disqualify some MLAs and he had sought the opinion of Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.

“There is an application pending before the Speaker, which was submitted by two BJP MLAs. These members wanted 12 MLAs to be disqualified from the Assembly. If so, it will help BJP because it will lower the strength of the Assembly,” said a senior BJP leader aware of the political developments in the state. 

BJP has also moved a petition for disqualification of five Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs),accused of indulging in anti-party work.

In the 225-member Assembly, BJP has 121 MLAs. “So far, 13 have resigned but there is a possibility that eight more MLAs will resign,” said V Dhananjay Kumar, senior leader Karnataka Janata Party (KJP), formed by Yeddyurappa.

BJP leaders are not worried if MLAs with Yeddyurappa are not disqualified, as they believe Assembly election would be scheduled in May and there is no time to hold by-elections.

“If 12 BJP MLAs are disqualified, then BJP will continue to have more than 50 per cent of MLAs in the House. And if the resignations of these MLAs are accepted, then also there is no time to conduct by-elections and BJP will have majority in the House. So, there is no threat to the BJP-led state government,” said a BJP leader.