BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who cut short a private visit to the US, went into damage control mode, calling a meeting of Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) lawmakers at a hotel. Sources close to him said at least some of the rebel MPs of the ruling coalition, who resigned over the last week, bringing the government to the brink of collapse, may return to the fold.
Through the day, his father former Prime Minister 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 come apart. The JDS patriarch also met Congress's troubleshooter DK Shivakumar. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah too has called a meeting of Congress Legislature Party on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Congress' state in charge, KC Venugopal, has come to Bengaluru and met state party leaders at a private hotel.
Congress played down the crisis, with its former chief minister, Siddaramaiah, saying, "There is no threat to the coalition government. It is safe". Congress veteran, Mallikarjun Kharge, dismissed rumours about plans to make him the next chief minister.
Kharge blamed the BJP for destabilising the government.
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 a meeting of its legislature party Monday at 5 pm.
"Let's wait and watch. Are we sanyasis (hermits)?," state BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa said. P5