Karnatka: Cong.-JDS alliance in trouble, coalition will be close to collapse.

Governor_630_630BANGALURU : In a move that could shake the Congress-JDS coalition government in Karnataka, 12 more MLAs reached the Vidhan Soudha with their resignation papers on Saturday.
The development comes days after Congress MLAs Anand Singh and Ramesh Jarkiholi resigned from the state Assembly.
The ruling coalition Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress government in Karnataka is in deep crisis as their 12 MLAs have resigned from the parties. At least 11 MLAs reached the Vidhana Soudha and submitted their resignations to Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar. Of these, three are JDS MLAs, while eight are from the Congress.
 According to a report, many Congress and JDS MLAs are lined up outside Karnataka Assembly Speaker’s office and have submitted their resignation to speaker KR Ramesh Kumar.Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy is in the Unites States currently, and is expected to return Bengaluru on Sunday.
Among those who have submitted their resignation are Congress MLAs Mahesh Kumthalli, BC Patil, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Shivaram Hebbar, ST Somashekar, Muniratna, Pratap Gowda and Byrathi Basavaraj. H Vishwanath, Narayan Gowda and Gopalia from JDS have also tendered their resignation.
Meanwhile, Veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge is leaving for Karnataka. “Many of the MLAs who want to leave Congress have been associated with the party for a long time. I’ve faith that they’ll stay with us & support the party. I’m going to Bengaluru. I’ll make further comments after looking at the ground situation there, he told reporters.
In a tweet  D. K. Shivakumar  claim that nobody will resign, I had come to meet them(8 Congress& 3 JDS MLAs who had reached Assembly speaker office) “I was supposed to pick up my daughter that is why I went home, I have told my office to take resignations and give acknowledgement that 11 members resigned .Tomorrow is leave so I will see them on Monday,” Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar told ANI.
Speaking to the media, Ramalinga Reddy said, “I am not going to blame anyone in the party or the high command. I somewhere feel I was being neglected over some issues. That is why I have taken this decision.”
Speculation was rife in the political arena that several MLAs from the ruling coalition may resign after Congress MLAs Anand Singh and Ramesh Jarkiholi resigned from the government earlier this week. Karnataka State minister D. K. Shivakumar also reached assembly speaker office. He said that nobody will resign. I had come to meet them.
Deputy CM G Parameshwara and state minister DK Shivakumar have called an emergency meeting of Congress Bengaluru MLAs and corporators at 5 pm today. BJP MP GVL Narsimha Rao said we have been noticing the developments. They finally realised the chaos that had been created in the state. Not just BJP but even people of Karnataka will heave a sigh of relief. ”
The legislators then also met the governor at the Raj Bhavan before being flown out to a five-star hotel in Mumbai. If the resignations are accepted, the coalition will be close to collapse.
“We have given our resignation to the speaker’s office. We have brought this to the notice of the governor as well. We urge that our resignations be accepted,” H Vishwanath, a lawmaker of the chief minister’s JDS said after meeting the governor. Mr Vishwanath was removed as JDS state president just days ago.
Despite the efforts by the Congress, the rebelling leaders addressed the media together outside the governor’s residence, claiming they were among 14 legislators quitting the ruling coalition. They were then flown out to Mumbai later in the evening and put up at a five-star hotel.
The Congress, after a meeting of senior leaders in Delhi this evening, blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP for the lawmakers quitting. “Aaya Ram, gaya Ram politics (horse-trading) has a new definition now: Mischievously Orchestrating Defections In India – MODI,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.
The Congress and JDS together have 116 in the 224-member state assembly where 113 is the majority mark. The coalition will crash if 14 lawmakers quit. The year-old coalition, wobbly from the start, has struggled with revolt and infighting since it came to power in May last year.
The BJP, which has 105 legislators, says the party has nothing to do with the walkout by the Congress legislators – and says if the government falls, the BJP should be invited to form government.
On Monday, two Congress legislators, Anand Singh and Ramesh Jarkiholi had resigned, bringing the ruling coalition of the JDS and the Congress down to 116. The resignation of the two legislators has not been formally accepted though.
The Congress-JDS coalition suffered a disastrous outing in the Lok Sabha election; the two parties managed just one seat in the 28 seat- state. The rest were scooped up by the BJP, led by former Chief Minister Yeddyurappa. The two parties had joined forces after the assembly elections last year in May to keep the BJP out of power.
(With Inputs fro Bangaluru Bureau ).
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *