Bengaluru, Oct. 9: Thirteen of the group of 14 dissidents who have kept Karnataka’s B.S. Yeddyurappa government on edge were set to arrive in Chennai from Goa on Saturday night, with the Opposition JD(S) steadily whittling away at the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Only the excise minister, Mr M.P. Renukacharya, long seen as the BJP’s plant in the rebel camp, returned to the party fold.
The rebels are being shepherded by the JD(S) MP, Mr Cheluvarayaswamy, and the party legislator, Mr Zameer Ahmed Khan.
With four more BJP legislators pledging support to Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy, the JD(S) state president and architect of the anti-BSY campaign, the Opposition ranks have swelled to 118.
The JD(S) has 28 legislators, the Congress’ 73 MLAs, and the rebels camp is swelling past 14.
The BJP faced a major embarrassment as two rebels, Mr S.K. Bellubbi and Mr Raju Gowda, who had announced they were back in the party, switched back to the JD(S).
Together with another BJP legislator, Mr H.S. Shankarlinge Gowda from Mysore, they were accompanied by Mr Kumaraswamy’s men.