Winds of change for the Congress

Encouraged by the I-T raids on BJP MLAs that continued till late yesterday, the party has swung into action by appointing a new president for the state

Encouraged by the I-T raids on BJP MLAs that continued till late yesterday, the party has swung into action by appointing a new president for the state

While the BJP putting the poaching of MLAs on hold for the fear of retaliatory action from the centre, the Congress has sprung into action to strengthen the party in the local level. It has appointed a new president for the state unit. The Congress high command replaced R V Deshpande as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president with G Parameswar, former minister and legislator representing Koratagere, amid widespread concern on deterioration of the party in face of BJP's 'Operation Lotus'.u00a0

New face: G Parameswar, former minister and legislator representing Koratagere, has been made the new president of KPCC

"There was a discontented feeling among the ranks and files of the party about the high command. Now they have realised it and are taking drastic steps. The first one are the I-T raids, and the second is the appointment of the new KPCC president. "We are expecting more action in the future," said B S Shivanna, a close confidant of Siddaramaiah.

Attention!
He said the high command would pay more attention to the state politics after the Bihar polls and US president Barack Obama's India visit. He wanted Siddaramaiah to be credited for the change in the attitude of the party, because he was the one who drove the point home, otherwise party would haveu00a0 fallen prey to Operation Lotus.

Because of these new changes, Congress MLAs, who were understood to have quit, have now reportedly changed their minds, and have decided to stay back with the party.While a newfound motivation in the party is one reason for the Congress MLAs to hang on, the main reason could be BJP's decision to go slow on Operation Lotus.

A source in the BJP said the party leaders decided to stop the poaching operation for a while because there was a possibility of Congress and JD(S) MLAs tendering resignations en masse, paving way for the centre to clamp President's rule in the state.

"We are hopeful that the court case on the disqualifications would be decided in our favour. In that case, we won't require MLAs from other parties. There is no need of Operation Lotus," said Dhananjaya Kumar, BJP spokesperson.

Operation to go on
However, sources say that the BJP has not completely stooped the operationu00a0-- it will be continued indirectly. As a part of the changed game plan, legislators from the opposition parties would resign to their respective parties for their displeasure over party bosses, and would not join the BJP.

"It is to avoid the blame that the BJP is indulging in breaking the parties," said a senior leader in the BJP. "Their resignation would bring down the strength of the opposition parties in the house, and at the same time, no one can blame the BJP as they would not join the party."

MLAs who have resigned would contest the next elections either as independents or would contest with sumptuous payments backing them, said the source.

Refuting the charges that he was encouraging defection, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said, "BJP will not take MLAs from the other parties. I appeal them to stay wherever they are."