Health minister B Sriramulu was allegedly instrumental in bringing about this development although Jarkiholi said ministers Janardhan Reddy and Sriramulu were instrumental in bringing him to the BJP. The defectors addressed the Press in the latter’s ministerial bungalow. Jarkiholi and Naik belong to the Scheduled Tribes while Asnotikar belongs to a backward community.

By snaring the three MLAs, the BJP has also ensured that the six independent MLAs, all but one of whom have been made ministers, cannot hold its government to ransom even if they want to, in future. This of course is subject to the assumption that the three defectors will emerge victorious in the by-elections. On his part, Sriramulu maintained that the three defectors had set no preconditions to join the BJP. He said that they had joined the BJP because they had full confidence in the leadership of Yeddyurappa (BSY). They are interested in the development of their respective constituencies. He denied that the BJP engineered this defection because it feared that the independent MLAs, despite being rewarded with cabinet berths, might desert the government at the behest of the Congress Party in future. He said neither the government nor the independent MLAs would face any threat on account of this defection. The independent MLAs would continue to enjoy the same status in the cabinet. His defence seems credible considering that one of the independent members, Women and Child Welfare minister, PM Narendra Swamy said the BJP had kept the independent MLAs informed of the entry of opposition members into its fold. Swamy said that the ruling party wanted to strengthen its base and the independents would not object to it. Their support to the ruling party would continue as ever. Obviously, Sriramulu has covered his back.

However, the Opposition Congress party and the Janata Dal (S) cried foul over the "poaching" of its MLAs by the ruling BJP. Opposition leader in the Legislative Assembly, Mallikarjun Kharge, described the resignation of the three Opposition MLAs as a violation of democratic principles while the JD(S) described it as a vulgar display of money and muscle power. The JD(S) spokesperson, YSV Datta said that it amounted to obscene display of money and muscle power by the BJP. The ruling party was also playing the caste card. The BJP had shown that it could buy anyone. However, the voters would not keep quiet. They would surely reject these MLAs who had trivialised the poll verdict by resigning from the assembly. The BJP was sure to suffer from this development.

But can the Congress party claim moral high ground? Obviously it cannot. In fact, going by the modus operandi followed by the BJP in the present case, one can infer that the former took a leaf out of the Congress party’s book. In 2002, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi engineered the defection of a BJP MLA to gain majority on his own in the state. In 2007, the ruling Congress in Goa got three BJP MLAs to quit the party in order to bolster its numbers.

The BJP, painted for long as a party of caste Hindus and hence, anti-backward class, has been succeeding lately in gaining the support of the backward class, the credit for which to a large extent goes to the Bellary mining barons (vide, "Karnataka & AP polls: What they convey to politicians?" dated June 4, 2008). This strategy of wooing the backward class was until recently the monopoly of almost all non-BJP parties (assuming it qualifies as a strategy) and it did cost the BJP rather dearly at the elections in the past. Now that the lacuna has been taken care of, the BJP stands on the same footing as the other parties!