Podcast | What’s Operation Lotus In Karnataka’s Political Crisis?

Will the BJP topple the Karnataka Congress-JDS government? Or will the coalition get MLAs from the BJP to defect?

After two independent MLAs withdrew support from the Congress-JD(S) government, the government has accused the BJP of trying to poach their MLAs and destabilise the government in a move called Operation Lotus 3.0.

(Photo: The Quint)

Karnataka faces a new political crisis.

After two independent MLAs withdrew support from the Congress-JD(S) government, the government has accused the BJP of trying to poach their MLAs and destabilise the government in a move called Operation Lotus 3.0.

Wait, what's Operation Lotus? it sounds like a combination of a fancy military formation and a vigorous attempt at planting flowers. But it's a lot simpler.

Click on the player below to listen to the full podcast!

Operation Lotus 3.0: The Strategy

Operation Lotus refers to a BJP strategy to come to power in states where it doesn't have enough seats to form the government, by either buying out or "influencing" opposition MLAs. How do they do this?

First, they establish contact with the MLAs, and after some "influence" they're made to resign. What happens when they resign from the Assembly? The Assembly's size falls, and this brings down the halfway mark.

The Congress-JDS alliance has 118 seats in the Karnataka Assembly. The BJP, along with two independents, has 106 seats. In Karnataka, the Assembly has 224 seats and to form the government, a party or a coalition needs 113 seats. BUT if the Assembly’s total size falls, this halfway mark becomes smaller, and the BJP could potentially form the government in the state.

But honestly, both the Congress and the JDS hardly seem worried about this. The Karnataka Congress’s Brijesh Kalappa said, “As far as BJP coming to power in Karnataka, it’s like them saying, “Mandir wahi banayenge. But date nahin denge.” If they’re going to come to power they should give a date.”

BJP Sends All 104 MLAs to a “National Convention”

So back to the present now. When the two independent MLAs resigned, the BJP reacted by flying all 104 of its own MLAs out of Karnataka and straight to a resort in Delhi-NCR's Gurugram.

Wow. I mean, all political strife aside, these MLAs must LOVE political crises like this, because it gives them a chance to run off to a resort, maybe sip a few pina coladas and chill for a few days.

So, back to the topic, the BJP’s GVL Narasimha pulled a “I’m rubber and you’re glue” reaction by saying “We didn’t try to lure MLAs. You did!”

Narasimha added that the BJP has all its MLAs present in Delhi. “The MLAs are simply attending a national convention meeting and have stayed put there,” he said.

Yeah. That’s why the BJP’s lawmakers are in Delhi. Apparently they’re attending a national convention meeting. Sure. HD Kumaraswamy, that is, Karnataka’s Chief Minister reacted to this by saying, “I don’t need any BJP MLAs! I have enough MLAs.”

Horse-Trading Allegations Aplenty

Now remember, this whole thing began with the BJP taking three Congress MLAs to a hotel in Mumbai. It doesn’t help the Congress that one of these MLAs is senior Congress leader Ramesh Jarkiholi. Apparently not just these three, but the Janata Party was talking to 17 more MLAs to try and get them to resign.

So if Operation Lotus 3.0 goes according to plan, the BJP will try to bring down the Assembly's strength from 224 to 210, making 105 as the halfway mark in the Karnataka Assembly. And with their 106 seat strength, they could pose a serious problem to the Congress-JDS coalition.

Oh also don't forget, the MLAs who resign now are VERY likely to get the BJP's support to contest later.

Operation Lotus 3.0 – Key Players

So before we wrap up, here's a quick look at the important players in this situation.

• Obviously the CM is an important part of this. Because it was after he hinted that he was in touch with BJP MLAs who wanted to defect that the party flew its 104 MLAs to Gurugram for the... ehm... National Convention.
• Then there's BS Yeddyurappa. He was CM of Karnataka for a grand total of 2 days after the last election. And this is supposed to be his last chance at the seat, so he has a lot resting on this move.
• Ramesh Jarkiholi. Remember the senior leader we mentioned earlier who was in the Mumbai hotel? Well he was dropped from the Karnataka Cabinet earlier, and is supposed to be the one coordinating the defections.
• Finally, there's DK Shivakumar, the Congress' white knight in this fight. He was instrumental in foiling the first two Operation Lotuses and the first person to talk about the BJP's third try. All eyes are now on him as this unfolds.