Imminent resignations of MLAs push Karnataka ruling coalition to the brink

If a dozen of Congress and JD (S) MLAs resigned, the BJP might stake its claim to form the government.

Crowd outside the office of Karnataka Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar, at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on July 06, 2019.

The JD(S)-Congress coalition government headed by H.D. Kumaraswamy veered to the brink of collapse on Saturday as nearly a dozen Congress and JD(S) MLAs planned to resign from the membership of the Legislative Assembly.

S even-time MLA Ramalinga Reddy to quit Karnataka Assembly membership

A group of MLAs led by former JD(S) president H. Vishwanath trooped into Legislative Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar’s chamber on Saturday afternoon. However, by then, the Speaker had left.

The legislators are planning to tender their resignations at a time when Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and State Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao are on a private visit to the U.S. and U.K., respectively.

JD(S) MLAs H. Vishwanath (Hunsur), K. Gopaliah (Mahalakshmi layout in Bengaluru city) and Narayana Gowda (K.R. Pet) have planned to quit.

Congress MLAs Shivaram Hebbar (Yellapur), Mahesh Kamatahalli (Athani), B.C. Patil (Hirekerur), Pratap Gowda Patil, Ramalinga Reddy (BTM layout in city), Sowmy Reddy (Jayanagar in the city), S.T. Somashekar (Yashwanthpur), Subba Reddy (Bageppalli), Munirathna (R.R. Nagar), G.N. Ganesh (Kampli) and Byrathi Basavaraj (K.R. Puram) are also planning to quit.

Congress MLA Somashekar said he had not come to the Speaker’s chamber to resign but to protect the interests of the party. “I came in favour of the party,” he said at the Speaker’s chamber. However, some MLAs declined to speak to the media.

Many loyalists of the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah are expected to resign, according to sources. Disappointment with the functioning of the coalition government and the Congress’s rout in the Lok Sabha elections are major reasons for the legislators’ move to quit the Assembly membership.

Already, Anand Singh and Ramesh Jarkiholi resigned from the Assembly membership on Monday.

The collapse of the government is imminent if nearly a dozen MLAs and the two newly inducted Ministers, R. Shankar and H. Nagesh — both independent MLAs, who were inducted into the Cabinet last month to prevent poaching by the Opposition BJP — too tender their resignations.

If a dozen Congress and JD(S) MLAs resign, the BJP might stake its claim to form the government. The BJP has 105 members in the 224-strong House.