Karnataka:”There is no threat to the coalition government:”Siddaramaiah
BANGALURU : Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, back in India after a private visit to the US, launched straight into damage control measures, with a meeting of top leaders of the ruling Congress-Janata Dal Secular (JDS) alliance. Congress played down the crisis, with its former chief minister, Siddaramaiah, saying, “There is no threat to the coalition government. It is safe”.
Sources close to him said at least some of the rebel lawmakers of the ruling coalition, who resigned over the last week, bringing the government to the verge of collapse, may return to the fold. Through the day, his father HD Deve Gowda held a string of meetings with leaders of his party as well as the Congress. If the resignation of all 13 lawmakers is accepted, the government of the Congress and JDS which has a wafer-thin majority, could collapse.
Here are the top 10 developments in the story:
Former prime minister and JDS veteran HD Deve Gowda, Congress leaders Siddaramaiah, KC Venugopal and DK Shivakumar attended the meeting with Mr Kumaraswamy at a five star hotel in Bengaluru.
The Congress and Janata Dal Secular held a series of meetings since morning to consider the possibility of saving the government after 11 legislators from the ruling coalition resigned on Saturday.
The Congress’ state in charge, KC Venugopal, came to Bengaluru and met state party leaders at a hotel. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah has called a meeting of Congress Legislature Party on Tuesday.
The Congress played down the crisis, with its former chief minister, Siddaramaiah, saying, “There is no threat to the coalition government. It is safe”. Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the party is in still in touch with the rebels and will get a clear picture on the July 12, when the assembly session begins.
Speaker Ramesh Kumar said he would look at the latest batch of resignations only after he returns to work on Tuesday.
The Congress and the JDS together have 118 members in the 224-seat state assembly, along with one BSP and one Independent member. The defections will bring its numbers down to 105 and the majority mark in the assembly from 113 to 106. The BJP also has 105 members.
The BJP has said it should be invited to form a new government if the ruling coalition lacks the numbers. But it has denied the coalition’s accusations of engineering the crisis. It has called its a meeting of its legislature party tomorrow at 5 pm.
“Let’s wait and watch. Are we sanyasis (hermits)? After the resignation process is over and the speaker takes his decision, leaders of our party will discuss and decide,” state BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa said in response to a question whether the party was preparing to form government.
Eight Congress and three Janata Dal Secular legislators submitted their resignations to the Speaker on Saturday afternoon. They then met Governor Vajubhai Vala at the Raj Bhavan before being flown out to Mumbai.
The Congress has alleged that the rebel legislators were taken to Mumbai in a plane that was arranged by the BJP. The party also said BJP leaders visited the hotel where the lawmakers are staying.
QWith Agency Inputs ).
