Bengaluru: Two Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs from Hyderabad-Karnataka region, Manappa Vajjal and Shivaraj Patil, defected to the BJP on Thursday. With this, the usual exercise of “jumping the ship” close to elections has begun in poll-bound Karnataka. Seven sitting MLAs of the JDS are already with the ruling Congress and are likely to officially join the party once the last session of the current Assembly ends in mid-February.

The MLAs leaving the third player JDS looking for better prospects in national parties — the Congress and the BJP — may not be a big thing. But there are rumours of a large-scale defection from Congress to BJP and BJP to Congress. All these developments are likely to take place in a month.

A few months ago BJP’s chief ministerial face B S Yeddyurappa had dropped a bomb saying that over a dozen Congress MLAs are in touch with him and they will be joining the saffron party. An enraged state Congress president Dr G Parameshwara had hit back at him saying that many BJP MLAs are in touch with the Congress and no party legislator will go with the BJP.

According to party insiders, at least 5 - 6 Congress MLAs have already finalised talks with the BJP and might switch sides in the next two-three weeks. What is more interesting is out of these MLAs two are from Bengaluru city and two are ministers in the Siddaramaiah government.

The BJP sources claim that the father-son duo from Bengaluru — M Krishnappa and Priya Krishna — are their main targets. Real estate tycoon M Krishnappa, now Housing Minister, is a powerful Vokkaliga leader in Bengaluru and his son Priya Krishna is a two-time MLA. They are also the richest MLAs in Karnataka. Both are known as formidable candidates and the BJP is trying hard to get them on their side to weaken the Congress.

When contacted Priyakrishna dismissed the reports as a politically motivated slander against him and his father. He said, “Some BJP leaders are behind it. Why should we go to the BJP? My father is a cabinet minister and a senior leader of the Congress. I am a two-time MLA. We will not go to BJP”.

Interestingly, the BJP is also eyeing a powerful Lingayat minister Ishwar Khandre from Bidar district. Khandre is also a part of a campaign seeking a separate religion tag for Veerashaiva – Lingayats and the son of veteran Congress leader Bhimanna Khandre.

A BJP leader from Hyderabad – Karnataka region has confirmed that the party is in touch with disgruntled Congress MLAs from Gulbarga district – Dr A B Malakaraddi, Malikayya Guttedar and Baburao Chinansur. These three are former ministers and have turned against local MP and Congress stalwart M Mallikarjuna Kharge after he made son Priyank Kharge a minister in Siddaramaiah cabinet. By wooing them, the BJP plans to deal a double blow to the Congress in its stronghold. It wants to isolate Kharge and break the Congress’ formidable caste combination. While Khandre and Malakaraddi are Lingayats, Guttedar and Chinchansur are powerful OBC leaders of the region. The BJP is also targeting at least a dozen more sitting MLAs of the Congress across the state.

KPCC chief Parameshwara has dismissed these reports as baseless. He said “no one from our party will go to the BJP. It is a fact that some BJP leaders want to quit the party”. Yeddyurappa has countered him saying that no one will leave the BJP to join Congress’ sinking ship.

The Congress and the JDS are also not keeping quiet, watching their stables being invaded by the BJP. The Congress is in touch with at least five to six BJP MLAs. A powerful BJP MLA and a mining baron Anand Singh from Vijayanagara Assembly seat in Bellary district has already given enough hints that he is willing to join the Congress. Going against the party diktat he had celebrated Tipu Jayanthi in last November causing an uproar in BJP. Besides this, the Congress is focusing on some BJP MLAs in the Mumbai – Karnataka region.

The JDS, which has already lost one-fourth of its MLAs to the Congress and the BJP, is also making an all-out effort to woo some leaders from both the parties. Speaking to News18, JDS leader K T Srikanthe Gowda said that over a dozen important leaders of the Congress would be joining the JDS in the next two-three weeks.

Closer to polls, the state is expected to witness some high profile defections from all three parties. Will the voters back them? We will come to know once the votes are counted.