All Cong, JD(S) MLAs resign to 'accommodate' rebels
NEW DELHI: Karnataka's year-old Congress-Janata Dal coalition government is gasping for air after a yet another Independent MP quit and pledged support to the BJP, taking the total number of resignations since last week to 15. Thirteen of them belong to the ruling Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular. Earlier Monday, another Independent, made a minister a month ago, resigned and came out in support of the BJP, giving it a wafer-thin edge in the assembly. Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who cut short a private visit to the US and returned to douse the flames, said all Congress and JDS ministers have resigned and a cabinet reshuffle will happen soon. The idea is to make room for rebels who might be persuaded to return. The BJP has denied any role in the crisis but sources say it is getting ready to seize any opportunity.
Both Congress and Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal-Secular claimed that the government is safe. "This is unconstitutional, it is the work of the BJP high command. The government will survive," Kumaraswamy told a television channel. "There is no threat to the coalition government," said Congress's Siddaramaiah. Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the party is in touch with the rebels.
On Monday morning, after stepping down and pledged support for the BJP, independent lawmaker Nagesh left for Mumbai, which has become the base of the 13 rebel lawmaker of the JDS and the Congress who resigned over the last week. In the evening, Independent MP and minister R Shankar resigned.
Congress troubleshooter DK Shivakumar said: "Just now Nagesh called me and said that he has been hijacked by Yeddyurappa's' personal attendant and the BJP. By the time I reached the airport the flight had left."
The BJP, which failed to muster enough numbers to form a government last year, is waiting in the wings, demanding that it be called to form a new government. The party called a meeting Monday evening to assess its next move.
The party has also dismissed the coalition's allegations that it engineered the defections.
All 15 rebel MPs are being shifted to Goa from the Mumbai hotel where they have been closeted, sources said.
The JDS moved all its lawmakers to a resort.
If the resignations stand, the Congress-JDS coalition's 118 members in the 224-seat state assembly will come down to 104 and the majority mark will drop from 113 to 106. The BJP, with the support of Nagesh, has 106 members. Speaker Ramesh Kumar will examine the resignation letters Tuesday.
The matter found resonance in Parliament, where Rajnath Singh dismissed Congress allegations of BJP attempting to destabilise the government. "It is Rahul Gandhi who started the resignation spree," Singh said taking a potshot at the Congress.
