BJP Karnataka loss blame game: MP Pratap Simha now claims ‘compromise’ deal of some leaders with Cong

Simha also alleged that the Congress — which won the polls by accusing the BJP government of various irregularities such as the ‘Bitcoin scam’, ‘PSI scam’ and ‘40% scam’ — won’t take any action on the alleged perpetrators in the BJP now, and that itself should be taken as proof of the “mutual understanding”. He said, “If Congress leaders do not have an internal adjustment with some BJP leaders, then (they should) order an inquiry into these scams. You are also not talking about it now. Is this mutual back-scratching — you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours?”

This was along the lines of remarks made by BJP general secretary C T Ravi recently.

Congress leaders have dismissed claims of any “compromise” with BJP leaders. Responding to media queries on Wednesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah asked Simha to disclose the names of such BJP leaders who had an understanding with the Congress. “Let him spell out the names of the BJP leaders. I don’t know (who they are). In my entire political career, I haven’t spoken to Opposition leaders. If he has the information, let him reveal the names,” he said.

He lashed at the MP for being ‘immature’. “He has no political maturity. He speaks whatever comes to his mind,” the CM said.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar also responded, saying the allegations made by Ravi and Simha were “an internal matter of the BJP. They are free to say whatever they wish”.

JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy also jumped into the ring, saying that the words of Ravi and Simha exposed the pact between the two national parties. “BJP and Congress leaders should reveal what their understanding was. Didn’t Bommai say that Rs 8,000 cr was looted in the 2017 Arkavathy [land denotification] case [when the Congress was in power with Siddaramaiah as CM]. Why didn’t he investigate it in three years?”

“I am telling you today. Write it down. There will be no investigation (on scams of the previous BJP government). And no investigation will affect anyone who has looted the state,” he said.

Ravi and Simha are seen as close to national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh. The other camp in the state unit owes its loyalties to Yediyurappa. The two bickering factions have attributed the party’s loss to different factors, with the Santhosh camp blaming “compromise politics”, and the Yediyurappa camp criticising pre-poll decisions made without “proper consultation”. Due to the differences between the Santhosh and Yediyurappa camps, appointments of key positions, such as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP), are still pending.

Former Union Minister Ramesh Jigajinagi also appeared critical of some pre-poll decisions while talking to reporters on Tuesday. He said that while the first reason for the BJP’s defeat was the five guarantees promised by the Congress, he added, “The second reason (was that) 70 new candidates were fielded. What was the need to field 70 new candidates? How many of these 70 seats did you win? If you had fielded old faces in these 70 seats, we would have won 30-35 seats. This was the second reason, and it happened from our own side. Whoever gave this advice or did this, it is left to them… It is not my concern.”

The issue of candidate selection was a key friction point between the two camps in the run-up to the elections. Yediyurappa had returned from New Delhi even before the BJP had announced the list of candidates, sparking speculations that he was upset with the party high command. The BJP eventually struck a compromise formula while finalising candidates in Karnataka, which saw the party leave out several senior leaders to field new faces. The BJP won 66 of the 224 seats in the May 10 elections, while the Congress won 135.