Bengaluru: The BJP central leadership is learnt to have expressed displeasure over the cross-voting episode in the recent Karnataka Legislative Council elections, questioning state leaders on their poll management and coordination during a review meeting in New Delhi.
According to party sources, senior Karnataka BJP leaders met the high command at the party headquarters and briefed it on election preparations, voting strategy and the circumstances that led to the cross-voting. The meeting, which lasted around 45 minutes, was held in the presence of state BJP in-charge Radha Mohan Das Agarwal.
Sources said the leadership sought detailed explanations on the number of meetings held after the election announcement, the timing of the legislature party meeting, vote distribution strategy, issuance of whips to MLAs and coordination with ally Janata Dal (Secular).
Questions were also reportedly raised about whether the party had engaged with legislators suspected of cross-voting and whether a legislature party meeting should have been convened earlier to prevent dissent.
State leaders are said to have responded that each MLA was personally contacted, voting targets were fixed for candidates and whips were issued at the last moment to avoid information leakage to political rivals. They also informed the leadership that the JD(S) had been kept fully informed throughout the process.
The Karnataka leaders are also understood to have conveyed suspicions that monetary inducements may have played a role in the cross-voting, though no official evidence has been made public.
The BJP high command has reportedly asked the committee headed by C. T. Ravi to submit its findings at the earliest and indicated that further consultations may be held if required.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition R. Ashoka and state BJP president B. Y. Vijayendra are learnt to have acknowledged that additional preparations could have been made.
In the wake of the controversy, the state BJP has dropped its proposal to hold a legislature party meeting in Dharmasthala and is expected to proceed in line with the directions of the central leadership.
