Where did it all go wrong?
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All that were needed were 19 votes, but each came at a hefty price of Rs 1.5 crore! The Legislative Council polls from the Legislative Assembly constituency on Monday yet again reinforced the role of money power in state politics where a realtor, Mr Bhairati Suresh, who contested as an independent candidate, sailed through polling the highest number of 23 votes.
In an irony of sorts, the ruling BJP, which had unleashed Operation Lotus to woo opposition MLAs, had to bear the brunt on Monday with 12 of its legislators cross-voting in favour of the independent candidate. The buzz in the political circles was that MLAs were more vulnerable to the lure of money as they are preparing themselves for the forthcoming assembly elections, due next year.
Similarly, within the Congress, 40 MLAs had reportedly asked the party leaders to allot M.R. Seetharam’s name for their votes. This clearly showed that within the Congress too, the MLAs who were supposed to vote for Mr Saradagi, might have shifted loyalties to Mr Seetharam. The party has 71 MLAs, of which a vote of Mr Rudresh Gowda, who has physical condition, was adjudged invalid.
The Congress votes did not go to independent candidate or to the BJP, but it seems that MLAs who were asked to vote for Mr Iqbal Ahmed Saradagi instead voted for Mr Seetharam. Going by the allotment of votes, Mr Seetharam had to wait till the second preference votes to sail through. However, he sailed through in the first round while Mr Saradagi fell short of four votes. In fact, one vote came from outside. Sources in the Congress party said that it managed to get that one vote from the ruling BJP.
The other problem for the Congress was its failure to get the support of independent candidates. The five independent MLAs backed the independent candidate for the Council poll, dealing a big blow to the party. The Congress, which had just recovered from the revolt of opposition leader Siddaramaiah, may have a lot more of fire-fighting to do in the coming days.
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