Bengaluru: Amidst ongoing speculation of a Congress leadership change in Karnataka, fuelled by a power struggle between Chief Minister Siddharamaiah and his Deputy, D.K. Shivakumar, the ruling Congress party is actively engaging with leaders from both the BJP and JD(S) as part of its preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

This development underscores the Congress party’s strategic advantage over the BJP, which is yet to name its leader in the State Legislative Assembly and its State Unit President. The Congress appears to be countering the BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ by pursuing its own ‘Operation Hasta’. In this operation, the Congress is both preventing the migration of its leaders to the BJP and actively poaching MLAs from the saffron party.

According to sources, several BJP MLAs, including S.T. Somashekar, Shivaram Hebbar and six others, are set to resign from the BJP and relinquish their MLA positions to join the Congress on Nov. 10. 

It’s worth noting that a group of MLAs, including S.T. Somashekar and Shivaram Hebbar, played a role in the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) Government led by H.D. Kumaraswamy. Now, in a replay of the past some members of that group are expected to rejoin the Congress.