“Between 15 and 20 Congress MLAs who want to join the BJP are in touch with us,” said BJP State president Nalin Kumar Kateel in Vijayapura on Wednesday.
“What [Minister] Ramesh Jarkiholi said in Belagavi is right. A lot of Congress MLAs want to cross over. We have not responded to them as we don’t need them now. We have enough numbers for a majority,” he said.
He criticised the former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy for accusing the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of marking the houses of people not donating towards a Ram temple at Ayodhya. “The Ayodhya temple trust is created by the Supreme Court. If they collect money, it goes to the trust. Only those leaders who don’t have any faith in the Supreme Court or the country’s Constitution can oppose the fund collection,” Mr. Kateel said.
