05-27-2008, 02:56 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>5 Independents bargain hard, help BJP get its numbers</b>
With the Independent MLAs bargaining hard for providing support - with one member even doing a Madhu Koda and angling for the Chief Minister's post -the process of staking claim to form the government was delayed.
When newly elected BJP legislators gathered at the residence of Yeddyurappa, past noon on Monday, to elect a legislature party leader, Independent MLAs were not present. However, BJP leaders claimed two were on their way. Also missing from the group of legislators were the Reddy brothers, millionaire MLAs from iron mining district of Bellary.
In an apartment less than a kilometre away, the Reddy brothers were holding parleys with several Independent MLAs in an effort to muster up at least the three needed by the BJP to touch 113.
<b>The BJP was sure only about Shivraj Thangadagi, a BJP rebel candidate from Kanakagiri in the Koppal district. By early evening, the party also managed to bring on board Goolihatti Shekhar, a miner and JDS rebel from Hosadurga in Chitradurga district</b>. Among the other Independents, P M Narendraswamy from Malavalli in the Mandya district, an S M Krishna loyalist who did not get a Congress ticket, is reported to have suggested the option of being made Chief Minister.
Another Congress rebel D Sudhakar, a Congress rebel from Hiriyur in the Chitradurga district, angled for the Home Ministry while Venkataramanappa, another Congress rebel from the Pavagada constituency in Tumkur district, sought the Irrigation and Water Resources Ministry, sources said.
While the BJP had also approached the six Independent MLA, R Varthur Prakash from Kolar, the Congress rebel lost out after he made a public statement that he wants his political guru Siddaramaiah to become the Chief Minister in a Congress-JDS coalition.
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With the Independent MLAs bargaining hard for providing support - with one member even doing a Madhu Koda and angling for the Chief Minister's post -the process of staking claim to form the government was delayed.
When newly elected BJP legislators gathered at the residence of Yeddyurappa, past noon on Monday, to elect a legislature party leader, Independent MLAs were not present. However, BJP leaders claimed two were on their way. Also missing from the group of legislators were the Reddy brothers, millionaire MLAs from iron mining district of Bellary.
In an apartment less than a kilometre away, the Reddy brothers were holding parleys with several Independent MLAs in an effort to muster up at least the three needed by the BJP to touch 113.
<b>The BJP was sure only about Shivraj Thangadagi, a BJP rebel candidate from Kanakagiri in the Koppal district. By early evening, the party also managed to bring on board Goolihatti Shekhar, a miner and JDS rebel from Hosadurga in Chitradurga district</b>. Among the other Independents, P M Narendraswamy from Malavalli in the Mandya district, an S M Krishna loyalist who did not get a Congress ticket, is reported to have suggested the option of being made Chief Minister.
Another Congress rebel D Sudhakar, a Congress rebel from Hiriyur in the Chitradurga district, angled for the Home Ministry while Venkataramanappa, another Congress rebel from the Pavagada constituency in Tumkur district, sought the Irrigation and Water Resources Ministry, sources said.
While the BJP had also approached the six Independent MLA, R Varthur Prakash from Kolar, the Congress rebel lost out after he made a public statement that he wants his political guru Siddaramaiah to become the Chief Minister in a Congress-JDS coalition.
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