Playing down the significance of the “dinner meeting” held by a section of the BJP MLAs at the Bengaluru residence of ministerial aspirant Umesh Katti recently, party’s State unit president Nalin Kumar Kateel claimed that the MLAs had met to discuss developmental works, which he said did not amount to dissidence.
Fielding reporters’ queries in Mysuru on Monday, he said the MLAs had not made any public statements about the meeting that gave any indication of a rebellion in the party ranks. The meeting was held to discuss development programmes and there is nothing wrong in it.
He said the BJP will not tolerate any acts of indiscipline and will take appropriate action if such a situation arises. However, he said the party will gather information from the MLAs and will also talk to them individually.
Mr. Kateel reiterated that Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa was their undisputed leader and the party’s government in the State was stable. He also sought to clarify that the government does not need any more MLAs from the Congress or the JD(S).
Referring to Congress leader Siddaramaiah’s statement that the BJP government will collapse due to infighting, Mr. Kateel claimed Mr. Siddaramaiah had brought down the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led coalition government and was seeing Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar as a threat to his bid to become the Chief Minister again. So, Mr. Siddaramaiah was doing the BJP government a favour by indirectly asking the BJP leaders to stabilise its government, Mr. Kateel claimed.
