Our MLAs are with us, says DK Shivakumar over Karnataka poaching row

The charges of horse-trading were triggered after 3 Karnataka Congress MLAs visited Mumbai on Monday, reportedly along with some BJP MLAs.

 Bengaluru: A day after information surfaced about BJP camping its Karnataka MLAs in Gurgaon, in fear of poaching by Congress, Karnataka Minister and Congress leader DK Shivakumar on Tuesday said that all 104 MLAs are still with the party.

 “Our MLAs are with us, we are answerable to the people of the constituency, they are not doing any dirty politics. BJP is trying to create a hype in the country on Mahagathbandhan,” Shivakumar told ANI.

Congress MLA  Anand Singh told the media, “Nobody has contacted me; I am very much in the party.”

The charges of horse-trading were triggered after three Karnataka Congress MLAs visited Mumbai on Monday, reportedly along with some BJP MLAs. This was followed by the Congress alleging that the BJP was trying to poach the ruling party’s MLAs to destabilise the JD(S)-Congress alliance government in the state.

BJP’s Karnataka unit president and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly BS Yeddyurappa told media on Monday, “There is no truth in all these rumours. Kumaraswamy is himself trying his level best to contact our MLAs, by offering ministership and money. That is why we are together here (in the NCR). We are not in touch with any of their MLAs. We are only focused on keeping our MLAs energised. We will stay here for one or two days.”

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy accused Yeddyurappa of fabricating stories, adding that there is no need for the Congress-JD(S) alliance to poach on any party’s lawmakers.