BENGALURU/MYSURU: With the BJP deciding to keep all its 104 MLAs penned in Gurgaon and three Congress MLAs reported missing, speculation escalated about former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa activating his standard operating procedure to bring about a regime change.The saffron MLAs , in New Delhi for a meeting of the party’s national council, have been asked to stay put at ITC Bharat in Gurgaon and were not able to spend Sankranti with their families. It was an extraordinary situation given the importance of the festival among Kannadigas, which confirmed CM HD Kumaraswamy’s worst fears.“There is no doubt Operation Lotus 3.0 has started. The BJP has been desperately trying to lure our MLAs. I know how much money and what gifts are being offered. I also have information in whose name the BJP had booked rooms for Congress-JD(S) MLAs in Mumbai,” said the CM, adding they were offering Rs 50 crore for a minister’s post and Rs 30 crore to contest the polls. Kumaraswamy said three Congress MLAs had gone missing, but claimed to have established contact with them.Operation Lotus refers to a plot Yeddyurappa stealthily executed in 2008 when he got MLAs of the Congress and JD (S) to resign their seats. The depletion in the ranks of its opponents brought down the strength of the 224-strong assembly, and helped BJP, which had ended up six short of the majority mark, to form the government.Yeddyurappa rejected the CM’s charge, saying that party’s focus was on the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka. However, sources said BJP was working to get 13 Congress or JD(S) MLAs quit their seats, besides seeking to lure two independents. The BJP failed to win over MLAs after the polls which threw up a hung house. But the disappointment of the last round does not seem to deter the Lingayat warhorse. In fact, his camp seems more encouraged because of the dissidence in the ranks of the coalition which often seemed to be pulling in opposite directions.They also concede they have not reached the target yet, as well as that negotiating hurdles like Speaker Ramesh Kumar, a trusted associate of Congress leader and former CM Siddaramaiah, could be tricky. The possibility of countermeasures by Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah remains strong and was the trigger for BJP’s sudden move to shift its MLAs from Karnataka Bhavan to a farmhouse in Gurgaon.Kumaraswamy and Yeddyurappa locked horns in a verbal duel, accusing each other of luring MLAs. The CM issued a threat he would lure BJP MLAs if the saffron party did not stop its efforts to topple his government. “Don’t you think I cannot make some BJP MLAs resign? But I don’t want to misuse my power and indulge in such things,” he said.Yeddyurappa said Congress-JD(S) started horsetrading using money and power, adding that all 104 BJP MLAs are united. He said most ruling MLAs are unhappy. “Let Kumaraswamy keep his flock together instead of pointing fingers at BJP,” he said.In Mysuru, the CM said three Congress MLAs are planning to cross over without mentioning their names. “They are in touch with me. They’re my friends. Even the 104 BJP members, too, are my friends. The MLAs, who are in Mumbai, have brought it to my notice before leaving. They have gone to the neighbouring state on personal reasons and there is no need to add a political colour to it,” he said.“I don’t look tense or nervous. If at all there were any developments, I wouldn’t have been like this,” Kumaraswamy maintained.Siddaramaiah in Haveri district dismissed dissidence in the Congress. “These are just rumors. Some MLAs may go to Mumbai or New Delhi. What’s wrong in it?”

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