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Karnataka: Deal sweetened for Congress victory

Contrary to claims by senior Congress leaders that independents and rebel JD(S) MLAs voted voluntarily for the ruling party candidates in Rajya Sabha polls, details of how they sweetened the deal to s

Contrary to claims by senior Congress leaders that independents and rebel JD(S) MLAs voted voluntarily for the ruling party candidates in Rajya Sabha polls, details of how they sweetened the deal to secure more than adequate votes for former police officer K.C. Ramamurthy have come to light.

Sources in the Congress said these MLAs were hosted in a posh hotel near Vidhana Soudha. The party, which had worked out a clever strategy to monitor each vote, allowed these MLAs to come for voting at the eleventh hour. Soon after all party MLAs cast their votes, independents and MLAs of small parties were brought in and closely monitored by Congress election agent D.K. Shivakumar himself. Once the independents and small parties’ MLAs finished voting and left the polling booth, Congress leaders took stock of the situation and then those of JD(S) were called in to vote.

If one were to go by leaders who worked with senior leaders to woo JD(S) MLAs, these MLAs are likely to get richer by Rs 2-3 crores. “Three JD(S) MLAs, Akhanda Srinivas, K. Gopalaiah and Zameer Ahmed Khan, all from the city, might have struck a deal with our leaders for party tickets for Assembly elections in 2018. This deal besides major projects for their constituencies sweetened the deal,” sources added.

Mr Cheluvarayaswamy and Mr Balakrishna are likely to join the BJP as Mr Cheluvarayaswamy has already met state unit president of BJP, B.S. Yeddyurappa leading to speculation that they discussed the political future of the former JD(S) minister.

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