A Siddaramaiah-D K Shivakumar show: How Congress managed to keep BJP, JD(S) at bay in Karnataka

When the Janata Dal (Secular) announced the candidature of a multi-millionaire in Karnataka for the Rajya Sabha polls in early February despite having only 19 MLAs in hand — in a situation where 45 votes were needed — it was apparent that the JD(S) would be attempting to pull off an impossible win by teaming up with its alliance partner BJP, which had around 20 votes to spare.

There was confidence in the ranks of the JD(S) and BJP leadership that the impossible could be pulled off by exploiting chinks in the Congress fold like the divisions that exist between factions allied to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar.

“Somebody will have to take responsibility for ensuring that cross-voting does not happen. It is a good time for dissatisfied MLAs to profit,” a senior BJP leader said after JD(S) candidate D Kupendra Reddy, a former Rajya Sabha MP, filed his nomination.

In the end, unlike Himachal Pradesh where the BJP successfully exploited divisions in the Congress ranks to pull off an impossible win — six Congress MLAs cross-voted for the BJP — the Congress in Karnataka managed to close ranks behind its candidates Ajay Maken, Syed Nasir Hussain and G C Chandrashekhar to deny an improbable win for the JD(S)-BJP candidate.

A series of measures taken over the last couple of months did the trick for the Congress. From Cabinet-rank appointments for dozens of MLAs in January, with the promise of more appointments, to the corralling of all MLAs in a resort ahead of the February 27 election, and holding mock-voting sessions, all played a part in the party’s success in Karnataka.

While Siddaramaiah played a significant role in keeping MLAs happy in the run-up to the election, Shivakumar — the Deputy CM, state party