UNI
Bangalore, Jun 2: Taking serious view of the nine-member strong Siddaramaiah faction defying the party whip in the Karnataka Legislative Council elections on Thursday and voting in favour of the Congress candidate, the JD (S) has decided to take disciplinary action against the violators.
Informing this to reporters here, party State President M P Prakash said former Prime Minister and party supremo H D Deve Gowda would convene the Parliamentary Committee meeting shortly to decide on the action to be taken.
He alleged that cross-voting by Siddaramaiah's All India Progressive Janata Dal (AIPJD), which was techincally still part of the JD (S) in the state Assembly, had led to the defeat of the party's fourth candidate Amarnath Shetty in Thursday's polls.
JD (S), which had 58 members in the State Assembly, had fielded a fourth candidate, despite being short of votes for its third candidate, banking on the votes of nine members of the Siddaramaiah faction, besides some independents and smaller parties.
However, Shetty lost to Congress candidate V R Sudharshan by a narrow margin due to Siddaramaiah's faction defying the whip. The defeat was a setback to the ruling JD (S)-BJP coalition in the state, which had made all out efforts to ensure Mr Shetty's victory.