The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party rebel MLAs, owing allegiance to former chief minister and Karnataka Janata Paksha President B.S.Yeddyurappa, have put off their decision of submitting their resignation letters to Speaker K.G.Bopaiah by a day. Instead of the earlier plans to put in their papers on Monday, they will now resign on Tuesday as the speaker is arriving in Bangalore on Monday night.
The rebel MLAs are learnt to have taken an appointment to meet the speaker at 11 am on Tuesday to submit their resignation letters. As per norms, it is mandatory for the MLAs to submit their resignation letters in person to the speaker.
It may be noted that 13 rebel MLAs wanted to quit their assembly seats on January 23 as per the game plan of Mr. Yeddyurappa to put the BJP government in a tight spot ahead of the presentation of the state budget. But their plans went awry as the speaker suddenly embarked on a foreign trip.
Though the speaker arrived in his home town of Madikeri late on Friday night, he is scheduled to arrive in Bangalore only on Monday after attending a programme in Madikeri on Monday morning.
The trouble starts for the ruling BJP only if more than 15 of its MLAs quit as it has a total strength of 120 -- including the speaker, nominated member and an Independent member -- in the 223-member Assembly.
Mr. Yeddyurappa who is said to be keen to prevent Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar from presenting the state budget by toppling the government is reportedly making efforts ensure that the number of the MLAs who are ready to quit reaches 18 to 20.
Already one more MLA - former minister Sunil Vallyapure who quit ministry after attending the Haveri rally of Mr. Yeddyurappa on December 9, - has announced his support to the rebel MLAs’ group.
But it is still not clear whether Mr. Yeddyurappa would get the support of this many MLAs. In fact, the BJP is trying to woo a couple of MLAs from the group of 13 MLAs who were willing to quit on January 23.
