Cong-JD (S) coalition in Karnataka on verge of collapse after 12 MLAs resign

The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government plunged into a crisis on Saturday after 12 legislators from the two parties – nine from the Congress and three from the JD(S) – submitted their resignations to Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, bringing the government to the brink of collapse.

On a day of high drama, Congress MLAs Ramalinga Reddy, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumathahalli, ST Somashekhar, BA Basavaraj, BC Patil, Pratapgouda Patil, and Shivaram Hebbar and Munirathna, and JD(S) MLAs AH Vishwanath, K Gopalaiah and Narayana Gowda put in their papers, the Speaker’s office confirmed.

Speaking to the media as he entered the Vidhana Soudha, Reddy said he felt he was being side-lined and this was the reason for his decision. “I have said in the past that I feel I’m being side-lined and discriminated against. I have nothing against the Congress or the party high command,” he said.

However, as they made their way to the Speaker’s office in the Vidhana Soudha here, the MLAs found that he had left for the day and decided to leave the resignations at his office. By this time, though, the Congress got wind of the developments and told trouble shooter DK Shivakumar to reach out to the MLAs.

In the meanwhile, Speaker Ramesh Kumar told reporters at his residence that the MLAs had not sought an appointment and, hence, he left his office to attend to some private business. “I will go to office on Tuesday and will hold discussions on the matter and then come to a decision,” he said. “The resignations have to be personally submitted to me, but they did not take an appointment. Anyway, I have asked my office to issue the MLAs an acknowledgement. I will take a call once I go to my office,” he said.

Meanwhile, Shivakumar whisked Reddy, Basavaraj and Munirathnawith with him to his house where they were locked in discussions, while the other MLAs met Governor Vajubhai Vala at the Raj Bhavan.

Addressing the press after the meeting, Vishwanath, who had resigned as JD(S) state president just last month, said 14 MLAs had resigned so far. “The reason for this decision is that the coalition government has failed to meet the aspirations of the people,” said Vishwanath. “The government did not take everyone into confidence and this hurt us.”

“For these reasons, we have voluntarily resigned, unable to put up with the misadministration of the coalition. Those leading the government have failed, and when we say that it clearly means the chief minister has failed,” Vishwanath said.

Vishwanath, though, denied that the MLAs had resigned to join the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, as part of Operation Lotus, a name given to the defections engineered in 2008, when the BJP was in power. “We are very senior leaders and will not fall prey to any operation,” he added.

From the Governor’s house, 10 MLAs headed to the HAL airport in the city and boarded a chartered plane that is believed to have headed to Mumbai, once again bringing resorts on to the centre stage of the state’s politics.

Reacting to the developments, the coalition took its time to get its bearing, as it was already reeling from the resignation submitted by MLA Anand Singh on Monday. The resignations come at a time when Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy is on a tour of the United States of America and Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao is on a personal tour of Europe. Both the leaders are out of reach.

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara and Shivakumar got into a huddle to take charge of the situation and AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal was rushed to the city in the evening to work out the way ahead.

Later in the evening, Siddaramaiah said he had tried to get in touch with the MLAs but was unable to reach them. “The resignations have (yet) to be accepted. Nothing will happen to this government, it will survive,” he said. The Congress is said to be working on a plan to convince some of the existing ministers to step down from the cabinet and those to be offered to the dissidents to ensure they take back their resignations.

BJP leaders, too, held a meeting at former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa’s residence to discuss the future course of action. Now that the MLAs have resigned, the party is thinking of moving a no-confidence motion against the government, as it would be in a minority, during the Monsoon session that will begin on Friday.

If the 13 resignations – the 12 submitted on Saturday and Singh’s resignation submitted on Monday – are accepted, the coalition’s strength will reduce to 105, excluding the Speaker. This will include 68 MLAs of the Congress, 34 of the JD(S), one BSP MLA and two Independents. With 105 MLAs, the BJP will still be short of a majority and will need at least two more MLAs to resign.

After inducting two Independent MLAs into the state Cabinet, the year-old coalition government assumed it was in the clear and could not be affected by dissidence. Senior leaders from both parties had scoffed at the possibility of turbulence after the move, especially after the coalition had survived two major scares, most recently in January.

A senior BJP leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said two things had changed after the Lok Sabha polls, where the coalition managed to win just two seats of the 28 constituencies in the state. “The decision to induct the Independents strengthened the resolve of the dissidents in the Congress. In the JD(S), the decision to field three members from former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s family made it clear to the leaders that they had no future there,” the BJP leader said.

“Added to this, the BJP’s sweep in the Lok Sabha polls showed the leaders that it was better to join the winners than stay back in parties that had no future,” the BJP leader said. “Now that the dam has been breached, several more resignations will flow,” the leader said.

First Published:
Jul 06, 2019 21:25 IST

Source: Read Full Article