Comments
As all eyes are on Karnataka Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, who on Tuesday is expected to take the crucial decision whether he will accept the resignation of the 12 MLAs. His decision will decide the fate of the coalition government in the State.
In an another setback to the Janata Dal Secular-Congress coalition, senior Congress MLA Roshan Baig on Monday threatened to quit the party and join the BJP. “I’m hurt by the way Congress has treated me, I’ll resign from as MLA and join the BJP,” he said. Two independent MLAs were the latest to quit the State Cabinet and have openly showed support to the BJP.
Congress’ key trouble shooter DK Shivakumar has left Bengaluru. Amidst all these developments, it is said that on Congress’ direction, rebel MLAs are being moved out of Mumbai. The JD(S), after the legislative party meeting Monday evening, has shifted all its MLAs from Bengaluru to a resort near Nandi Hills near Devanahalli.
On Saturday, nine Congress and three JD(S) MLAs had tendered resignations from their Assembly seats by submitting a letter to Speakers’ office, leaving the coalition government in deep crisis. After Independent MLAs — Nagesh and Shankar — withdrew their support, the strength of the JD(S)-Congress coalition has been reduced to 116 (Congress-78, JD(S)-37 and BSP-1), besides the Speaker.
With the support of two independent MLAs, the BJP has 107 seats in the 224-member House. The party needs to cross 113-majority mark in order to form the government. As these developments played out, the BJP has called for State-wide protest demanding Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s resignation.
CLP Meet
Ahead of the CLP meet, Congress leaders KC Venugopal, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Siddaramaiah, G Parameshwara, MB Patil and Eshwar Khandre are holding a meeting at an undisclosed location, with legal advisers to discuss about the further action against the MLAs who have resigned.
Earlier in the day, senior Congress leaders assembled at Deputy Chief Minister’s house to take stock of the political situation in the State. It was here a decision was taken to seek resignations of all ministers.
Former Chief Minister and JD(S)-Congress coordination panel chief Siddaramaiah said, “I had told them (rebel MLAs) earlier also that everyone cannot be included at the same time, so the Cabinet will be reshuffled after 20 months of the government coming into existence. Now, we will advance that period and this government will remain stable.”
Siddaramaiah further said he tried to be in contact with dissident MLAs, but could not reach them on over phone. “But I am confident that all of them will return to the party fold. The BJP will fail in its sixth attempt to destabilise this government.”
Replying to a question about possibility of postponing the Winter Session — scheduled for July 12 — he said, “The Session will be held as scheduled and things will become clear with in next 24 hours.”
AICC Karnataka in-charge K C Venugopal blamed BJP Central leadership for the present crisis in Karnataka. “The BJP after Lok Sabha election is trying to destabilise non-BJP governments right from West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and now they have come to Karnataka,” he said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.