Opposition grows in Cong, BJP over poaching rivals

BENGALURU: Dissent is growing in both Congress and BJP over attempts to induct functionaries from rival parties to strengthen their respective prospects in upcoming local body and Lok Sabha elections.
Congress, which won just one seat in the 2019 polls, has set itself a target of winning at least 20 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka and the leadership is mulling inducting functionaries from BJP and JD(S).This may not only increase its vote share but would also weaken its rivals.
But some senior party functionaries have opposed the move, saying it would hurt loyalists. They say the party may be compelled to reward defectors with top posts and positions in boards and corporations, which loyalists are eyeing.
While senior legislators like BR Patil and Basavaraj Rayareddi have broached this issue in letters to chief minister Siddaramaiah, many office bearers in Congress’ campaign committee openly expressed their concern at a meeting on Sunday. Already, some 60 senior MLAs in Congress are sulking because they were ignored for cabinet berths. The situation forced Siddaramaiah to fill all 34 ministerial berths, but it did little to douse brewing dissent.
“It is the right of loyal party workers to seek opportunities when the party is in at the helm,” said state Congress vice-president BL Shankar. “Deprivation naturally spurs disappointment.” He said posts in boards and corporations must be reserved for party workers.
MLAs like ST Somashekar (Yeshwantpur), Byrathi Basavaraj (KR Puram), Muniratna (RR Nagar), A Shivaram Hebbar (Yellapur), and K Gopalaiah (Mahalakshmi Layout) — all from BJP — and JD(S) legislators GT Devegowda (Chamundeswari) and his son Harsha (Hunsur) are said to be likely to join Congress.
This has caused heartburn. For instance, VS Patil, who contested against Hebbar in the assembly elections, has vehemently opposed the move to induct Yellapur MLA into the party fold. The same holds true with Muniratna and Basavaraj.
“There should be a rider that those joining should not seek plum posts,” said BR Patil. “Otherwise, it naturally evokes negative reactions from loyalists.”
In BJP too, opposition is growing over poaching Congress MLAs. This came after BJP national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh reportedly claimed at a meeting that more than 40-50 Congress MLAs are in touch with him and could be poached. But functionaries pointed out that the party had faced much ignominy after they inducted MLAs from Congress and JD(S) in 2019.
“Discussions about pros and cons are still on. The party leadership will eventually take a call,” said N Ravikumar, BJP state general secretary.