Summary:
Bengaluru, Jan 25 (PTI) With the Congress leadership in Karnataka claiming that some legislators and leaders from the ruling BJP are in touch with them, a saffron party MLA on Tuesday claimed that at least 16 legislators from the grand old party are in contact with him and may jump ship, ahead of assembly polls, if the high command approves.
The claims and counter claims between the ruling and the principal opposition party in the state has gained momentum, even as the assembly polls in the state are more than a year away.
As Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah today reiterated his claims that few BJP and JD(S) leaders are in touch with him and he would not reveal their names, BJP MLA and former Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi hit back and claimed that at least 16 legislators from Congress are in contact with him.
"A total of 36 MLAs were in touch with me, from the coalition government days, out of that 17 of us came out (to join BJP), among the remaining 19, three are from JD(S), I"m not going to touch them because of my good bonding with H D Kumaraswamy (JDS leader)...rest of them, who could not come with us then due to technical reasons are still in touch with me," Jarkiholi said.
Speaking to reporters here, he questioned why Siddaramaiah, who had declared in the assembly that the Congress will not take back any of those who had quit the party then and called them betrayers, is now claiming that some of them are in contact with him.
"....I will not take the names of 16 people who are in touch with me, I will speak truth not for publicity, let"s see if high command (BJP) agrees to induct them.