Luxury buses to ferry Congress MLAs to Bengaluru; D K Shivakumar leads charge
HYDERABAD: No exit poll prediction faltered when it came to Telangana. BRS was bruised by the congress rampage and KCR has been rejected for the first time by the people since the formation of the state. If things go plain sailing, Congress will surely form the government in Telangana. However, there are ample fears about horse-trading in the state with BRS still lurking for chances to wrest power for another term.
To quell all such tensions, Congress has arranged buses to take every MLA who wins in Telangana to a resort in Bengaluru. Private luxury buses are arranged at the Taj Krishna Hotel in Hyderabad. Senior leaders in charge of election duty and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar are camping in this hotel.
DK Shivakumar while talking with the media on Saturday showed apprehension about horse trading in Telangana and assured that not even one MLA will jump ships in this crucial stage.
“We have made elaborate arrangements for all the candidates... they are safe. We know the political strategy of BRS. They have only leaders but we have a collective leadership” said D K Shivakumar.
Meanwhile, the BJP alleged that Shivakumar was sent to Telangana to plan resort politics after the election results. As per Congress accusation, BRS chief and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is planning ways to wheedle Congress MLAs to join his camp. Congress won 19 seats in the 2018 assembly elections. From this, 12 MLAs changed affiliation to BRS and many among them are current BRS leaders.
BRS is just 15 seats short of Congress in Telangana. If the party wins in the luring tactics to bring congress MLAs to their camp, it may pave the way for another drama in Telangana. The Congress believes that senior leader DK Shivakumar will play a crucial role in allaying tensions in Telangana.
Shivakumar has successfully handled a similar situation faced by the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) during the 2018 trust vote in the Karnataka Assembly.