Bengaluru: Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of conducting horse trading in the name of ‘Operation Lotus’ and trying to attract over 13 rebel Congress-Janata Dal (S) state coalition MLAs, the Congress leaders staged a protest in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in between Vidhana Soudha and Vikas Soudha here on Tuesday, July 9.
The protest was held after the CLP meeting chaired by former chief minister and CLP leader Siddaramaiah, in the Vidhana Soudha in which several Congress leaders from State Legislative Assembly, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha participated.
Speaking to media, Siddaramaiah said, “This is a cleverly planned strategy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party chief and Home Minister Amit Shah. The duo is indulged in ‘Operation Lotus’ and trying to destabilise the state coalition of Congress-Janata Dal (S).”
“BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ is evident because the rebel MLAs have flown to Mumbai in the same flight and are now trapped. They are together in a hotel. We have taken it as an anti-party move”, he added.
He also criticised the BJP for using “money power” in the alleged horse trading of Congress MLAs.
In the protest led under the leadership of CLP leader Siddaramaiah and Karnataka State Congress In-charge K C Venugopal, Home Minister M B Patil, KPCC Secretary Eshwara Khandre, leaders like H K Patil, S R Patil and several other leaders partook.
