How Narendra Modi played his part in Kar‘Nataka’

While the chief minister and his partymen are rejoicing at winning Thursday’s trust vote, it is instructive to know that the state BJP was provided with a measure of comfort in a nail-biting situation by none other than Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. If it had not been for Modi’s cooperation, the state BJP would have been hard-pressed to hang on to JDS MLA (Channapatna) M C Ashwath and make him abstain from voting against the government. Where the Congress and the JDS sequestered the BJP’s 11 rebel MLAs and the five independents at resorts in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa – all ruled by UPA constituent parties – the BJP, courtesy Modi, kept Ashwath at an undisclosed location in Gujarat. No problem in gujarat A senior minister in Yeddyurappa’s cabinet said, “If we had kept him in a resort in Maharashtra, or Tamil Nadu, or Andhra Pradesh, or Goa, the ruling parties there would have got to him. After he went briefly to Tamil Nadu, we took him to Gujarat.” He added, “When our party teams went to these states to talk to the dissidents, the governments there threatened us with arrest. But in Gujarat, there was no problem.” Ashwath, who arrived in the city late on Thursday evening, submitted his resignation to the speaker, K G Bopaiah. He was accompanied by home minister R Ashoka, tourism minister Janardhana Reddy and BJP MLA (Surpur) Raju Gowda. With his resignation, the JDS strength is down to 27 in the assembly. Meanwhile, hinting at a renewed Operation Lotus, state BJP chief KS Eshwarappa has said that the BJP would welcome any MLA who is willing to join the party and abide by its ideology.