Bengaluru: Congress and Janata Dal Secular’s coalition government is facing the threat of collapsing after 11 MLAs from both parties tendered their resignations. While the resignations have not yet been accepted by Speaker KR Ramesh, the fate of the State government, already on sticky wicket due to reported in-fighting, hangs in the balance.
Both Congress and JDS have begun working overtime to ensure that the coalition government does not come apart at the seams. The dissenting MLAs, however, took a chartered flight to Mumbai late on Saturday night and are expected to stay here for at least a couple of days. CM HD Kumaraswamy, on a private visit to the United States, is expected to return to Karnataka later on Sunday even as Congress has parachuted several of its top state leaders to address the crisis.
The MLAs include former state Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy, Ramesh Jarkiholi, H Vishwanath, S T Somashekar, Pratapgouda Patil, K Gopalaiah, BC Patil, Mahesh Kumtahallli, Narayana Gowda, Byrathi Basavaraj, Shivaram Hebbar, Anand Singh and Munirathna Naidu
The 13 Karnataka MLAs, who submitted their resignation, have done so demanding a change in leadership in the Congress-JD(S) led government, helmed by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy. If five more MLAs resign, the coalition will no longer have a majority in the Karnataka Assembly.
Meanwhile, former Chhief Minister SIddharamiah, said, “This clearly shows that BJP is behind all these defections. It is Operation Kamala…Everything is fine. Don’t worry. Government will survive, there is no threat to the government.”
Meanwhile, Union Minister and BJP leader Pralhad Joshi, said, “Congress party as a whole is trying to throw out HD Kumaraswamy. It’s Congress party’s game plan to out HD Deve Gowda and family. Siddaramaiah is responsible, also some senior Congress leaders are involved in it.”