Bengaluru, Jul 7: Thirteen months after its turbulent birth, the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka was reduced to a minority on Saturday when 13 disgruntled MLAs — 10 Congressmen and three from JD(S) — tendered their resignations from the assembly and withdrew support to the HD Kumaraswamy-led government.
If Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar accepts the resignations, the coalition’s number will plunge to 105 from 118 in the 224-member assembly, where 113 is the majority mark. BJP’s strength in the assembly is also 105. The speaker said that as Sunday is a holiday and he’s on leave on Monday, he’ll take up this issue only on Tuesday.
Not wanting to be swamped with Congress’s efforts to retain them, 11 of the 13 MLAs moved to Mumbai by a special flight and checked into a luxury hotel.
There’s intense speculation that at least 5-6 more MLAs may resign on Monday. All indicators are that BJP, with 105 MLAs, will look to form the next government as a shrinking assembly will enable it to comfortably pass the halfway mark.
The 10 Congressmen who tendered their resignations at the speaker’s office included Ramesh Jarkiholi and Anand Singh, both of whom had also sent resignations on July 1.
The biggest blow to the ruling combine came when heavyweight Congress MLAs from Bengaluru, like former minister R Ramalinga Reddy, decided to resign. Out of the 13 MLAs the party has in the city, five have quit. Many of them are close associates of Congress leader Siddaramaiah while one had recently produced a movie starring Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil in the lead. They are said to have resigned to “protect their business interests” in a city which is increasingly saffron in colour.
In a last-ditch effort to save the government, senior Congress leaders led by AICC Karnataka in-charge K C Venugopal held a meeting in consultation with Kumaraswamy, who is in the US, and decided to hold an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday. At this meeting, five ministers each from Congress and JD(S) will be asked to resign to facilitate the induction of disgruntled leaders from both parties into the cabinet, sources said.
However, this is unlikely to save the government as the MLAs seem determined to walk. This was evident when efforts by Congress trouble-shooter, state minister D K Shiva Kumar, who has spent many a month trying to keep the flock together, made strenuous attempts to coax senior leaders like Reddy to withdraw their resignation but in vain.
During an hour-long drama, a livid Shivakumar snatched the resignation letter of his loyalist, N Muniratna, and tore it. But Muniratna returned to Vidhana Soudha in the evening to submit a fresh copy.
The power game has shifted to the governor’s office with the MLAs who have resigned calling for a floor test in the assembly even as Congress and JD(S) handlers tried to broker peace. Eight MLAs drove to Raj Bhavan and asked governor Vajubhai R Vala to take suitable steps to ensure their resignations were accepted.
“The governor assured us he would take action as per constitutional provisions,” JD(S) MLA A H Vishwanath said.
BJP leaders demanded the CM’s resignation saying: “Kumaraswamy’s government has been reduced to a minority. He has no moral right to continue in office. He should call off his foreign tour, return to the city and resign.”
The dramatic developments commenced before noon when MLAs came in two batches of eight and five, accompanied by a leading high court advocate, and handed over the resignation letters to assembly secretary M K Vishalakshi because the speaker was not in office.
The final act may be played out on the floor of the House in the upcoming monsoon session starting on July 12 with opposition BJP expected to press for a floor test.
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