Bengaluru: Karnataka BJP on Thursday (July 18) expressed confidence of senior Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy joining the saffron party amidst the ongoing political crisis in the state. However, the BJP claimed that Reddy’s move would be “slow and natural”.

MLA Reddy himself has denied having met any Industrialist who brokered the deal to ensure a smooth shift to the BJP. However, Karnataka BJP spokesperson Vaman Acharya said, "Leaders like Reddy will be shocked to be in the BJP all of a sudden and hence their migration will be slow and natural."

He further said that former state home minister Reddy's cool and non-controversial nature are readily accepted in the BJP and he will gel well with all the leaders in the saffron party.

When asked about BJP's attempt to convince Reddy's daughter Sowmya Reddy to also consider joining the party, he said the BJP is in touch with Sowmya, who is Jayanagar (Bengaluru) MLA.

"She is a vegan, soft-spoken and she will be very comfortable in the BJP. She is in touch with top BJP leaders and all she wants is some importance and respect to her father," Acharya stated.

Earlier, Reddy had ducked this question about an industrialist meeting him and he replied saying "Who is that Industrialist?"

All he said is that he will stay in the Congress but remained tight-lipped about supporting the Congress-JD(S) government as it faced floor test in the Assembly on Thursday.

According to sources, the BJP planned to convince Reddy to join the party, become a Rajya Sabha member and later make him vacate the Assembly seat (BTM Layout in Bengaluru) to accommodate his daughter Sowmya to contest from the same segment. While Sowmya will be made BTM Layout MLA, the BJP will field former Union minister late Ananth Kumar's wife Tejaswini from Jayanagar.

While the BJP camp may be feeling euphoric about the developments between coalition partners Congress and JD(S) and hoping to net Congress’s influential leaders Reddy and Sowmya, the latter said, "I'm vegan - yes. Soft spoken. I can't islamophobia."