‘No special ties with CM’: Karnataka BJP chief Vijayendra amid MLC poll row

Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra, who is in the eye of an internal party storm after cross-voting by party MLAs in the June 18 MLC elections, has sought to allay speculation that his close ties with Chief Minister D K Shivakumar played a role in the development.

During the course of a visit to the temple town of Dharmasthala—where he had earlier sought to hold a BJP legislature meeting to get the MLAs to swear on God regarding their voting—Vijayendra said on Friday that he had no business or friendly ties with Shivakumar.

With senior BJP leaders suggesting that the holding of a legislature meeting in Dharmasthala would set a bad precedent, Vijayendra made a solo visit to the temple.

“I have done the job of stating the truth before this holy place and before the party workers. If I were to stoop to the level of persons who have indulged in adjustment politics (by cross-voting) I would be equally complicit. The question does not arise. I have clarity on my role, faith in my organisation, I have faith in my party workers. Good things will happen,” Vijayendra said after visiting the Dharmasthala Sri Manjunatheshwara temple.

‘Respect Shivakumar as CM’

Vijayendra said that the cross-voting had caused him pain and had given rise to speculation around his close association with Shivakumar. “When the cross voting happened, there were allegations that Vijayendra had business ties with Shivakumar. There is a friendly association between Vijayendra and Shivakumar, it was insinuated on social media and made to seem that I have myself facilitated the cross voting. Even our own people were spreading this around,” he said.

“I want to clarify today that PM (Narendra) Modi and then (BJP) national president Amit Shah and senior leaders have blessed me to take up this position despite the presence of several senior leaders and the question of stooping to the level of such an action does not arise,” he added.

“There is no business association between Vijayendra and Shivakumar. There is no special friendship either. I have respected him as a KPCC president and will respect him as a CM in my role as an MLA. I want to stress that there are no special ties with Shivakumar,” the BJP state president said.

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‘Someone is involved…truth will come out’

Vijayendra said that he had suggested a legislature party meeting at Dharmasthala when he was distressed by the cross-voting because he was “an emotional person” who spoke what came to his mind.

“Senior party leaders expressed the opinion that we should not drag the issue to Dharmasthala and that we should inform the party leadership that the truth will be known sooner or later and they advised me against going ahead,” he added.

“I have come to (Dharmasthala) to pay respects as a follower of the temple deity. There is a lot of misinformation that has taken place then and now. I am speaking from a position of responsibility…from a place of devotion,” he said. “It is not right to say that Vijayendra has joined hands to facilitate the cross-voting and it is made to seem that I was complicit. This is far from the truth. The discussion should stop now,” Vijayendra indicated.

The BJP state president refused to comment on whether Shivakumar played any role in getting BJP MLAs to cross-vote in the MLC polls. “I have clarified my role. Is there a role played by D K Shivakumar? Our MLAs cannot go on their own so someone is involved and the truth will come out,” he said.

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What happened during the MLC elections

The two BJP candidates fielded for the seven MLC seats were elected along with five Congress MLCs. But the results showed that at least six of 63 BJP MLAs had cross-voted in favour of the Congress candidates and one cast an invalid vote. This left the two BJP candidates short of their assigned vote quota of 30 votes each and three excess BJP votes were not transferred to the Janata Dal (Secular).

While BJP’s Raghu Kautilya got 29 votes—one vote was disqualified due to an error—the second candidate, Lingaraj Patil, got only 27 votes against an assigned 30 but he was declared the winner in the elimination round.

In addition, cross-voting by JD (S) MLAs—BJP allies—for the eighth candidate fielded by the JD(S) left the candidate with only 14 votes despite the presence of 18 JD(S) MLAs in the Legislative Assembly. BJP MLAs are also suspected to have not cast their excess of three votes to the JD(S).

The BJP has set up a probe committee headed by the MLC C T Ravi to investigate the cross-voting and the panel is expected to handover its report to the party leadership this week. “We have our suspicions but there is no confirmation. It will be revealed eventually. Some say it was for development. In my view, it is for personal development and not constituency development,” BJP leader R Ashok said about the cross-voting.

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Vijayendra and Ashok were summoned to New Delhi on June 23 to report on the cross-voting.