Since the alliance last May, the local leaders of the Congress and JDS have been sniping at each other.

Two senior leaders of the Congress are flying out to Karnataka today to stabilise the party's ruling coalition with HD Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal Secular, which has been wobbling after being worsted by the BJP in the recently concluded national elections. The coalition has managed to scrape together only two of the state's 28 seats. Now both parties -- whose local leaders have been sniping at each other since coming to power last May -- are bracing for poaching from the BJP. A cabinet expansion is being planned to keep hold of those who might be on their way out.

A series of meetings have been scheduled for later today and tomorrow, the Congress legislature party will meet - a session that's expected to indicate who remains loyal to the party.

KC Venugopal and Ghulam Nabi Azad, who are expected to reach by 6 pm, will meet Congress leaders including Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara, state party chief Dinesh Gundu Rao and Congress minister and trouble shooter, D K Shivakumar. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal Secular may also be present for some of the meetings

The coalition government in Karnataka has been left vulnerable after the massive defeat.

The BJP has 105 seats against the alliance's 117, and remains 8 seats short of a majority. While the party appears to be biding its time, coalition leaders are warning of another Operation Lotus -- the term used to denote to BJP attempts to draw lawmakers from opposing parties to its side.

Two Congress lawmakers , Ramesh Jarkiholi and Dr Sudhakar, have recently met the BJP's SM Krishna.

While publicly, leaders of both parties are talking of unity and lasting the remaining four years of the term, there has been internal sniping.

Recently, Mr Kumaraswamy's lawmaker Gauri Shankar of Tumakuru Rural, said, "Deve Gowda would have won from here if we were not in a coalition. I don't care is Kumaraswamy scolds me or if Deve Gowda sends me out of the party - I don't want this coalition government."

Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, who is also the father of HD Kumaraswamy, lost the election from Tumakuru -- a seat he contested after vacating his Hassan seat in favour of his grandson, Prajwal Revanna.