Congress to send two observers to Bengaluru after thumping Karnataka victory: Sources

As Congress successfully crossed the majority mark in Karnataka elections on Saturday, the grand old party is all set to put its three-point plan in motion. The party has come up with a plan as it gears up for all eventualities like the defection of MLAs. 

According to the sources, Rahul Gandhi is holding a meeting with party president Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretary KC Venugopal and party leader Randeep Singh Surjewala. "Congress is going to send two observers to Bengaluru. Kamalnath is one of the observers," sources added. 

According to the latest Election Commission trend, Congress has garnered a total of 129 seats while BJP and JDS is trailing with 65 and 22 seats respectively.

Congress' three plans in motion and special arrangements for MLAs

Considering all the developments, Congress' high command has made special arrangements and asked all its MLAs to reach Bengaluru today. As per the sources, Congress has come up with three scenarios to summon the MLAs till the results are announced. 

• Scenario 1: If Congress gets more than 120 seats, all their MLAs will be moved to Bengaluru
• Scenario 2: if Congress has 115 seats all their MLAs will be taken to Hyderabad
• Scenario 3: If Congress gets less than 110 seats, all winning candidates will be taken to Chhattisgarh or Rajasthan

Amid horse-trading fear, Congress has deployed several senior party leaders and observers across all the districts of Karnataka. According to sources, all the winning candidates have been asked to arrive in Bengaluru once the counting of votes reaches its conclusion.

The Zone observers of Congress have been sent to different regions of Karnataka as special arrangements have been made--like choppers and flights have been booked to take the winning MLAs to Bengaluru. Resorts will also be reserved for the MLAs in the respective cities till the candidates take their victory declaration form from the Election Commission. 

Earlier in the day, Congress legislator for Shivajinagar, Rizwan Arshad expressed his strong speculation for horsetrading in Karnataka during post-poll results. He said, "The Congress party is confident of winning the Karnataka assembly polls and of forming the government with an absolute majority. However, the ruling BJP is creating conspiracies to buy MLAs".