Aren’t 136 MLAs enough? Vijayendra asks DKS on poaching

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Two days after being appointed, BJP state president BY Vijayendra on Monday trained his guns on Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar for his statement that many MLAs from the saffron party and their allies JD(S) were willing to join the Congress.

Vijayendra asked Shivakumar if 136 MLAs weren’t enough for him. He was referring to the fact that Congress has 135 MLAs and their ally Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha (SKP) had another.

“Aren’t 136 MLAs enough? Instead of speaking like this, it would be better if he attended to the plight of the farmers,” Vijayendra told media persons.

The new BJP state president has been very active in interacting with party workers and senior leaders and hard-selling his father and former CM BS Yediyurappa’s legacy to revive the party.

On the day, he visited saffron party bigwigs like former chief minister Basavaraja Bommai, former minister R Ashoka and other senior political leaders like ally and JD(S) national president HD Deve Gowda and former CM SM Krishna.

Vijayendra said that he would try to revive the saffron party in Karnataka after their drubbing in May’s Assembly elections, which reduced them to 66 seats.

A day prior, he took a conciliatory tone and said that he would try to iron out any minor differences within the party. He has insisted that their goal would be to win all 28 Lok Sabha seats in next year’s general elections.