Leaders of the Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka were left jittery, with their efforts to salvage the situation suffering setbacks on Sunday as Congress MLA and Housing Minister N. Nagaraj flew to Mumbai to join the rebel camp , a day after the Congress had “convinced” him to stay back .
Hours later, 12 rebel MLAs from the ruling coalition camping in Mumbai held a press conference to declare that they would not retract their decision to resign, leaving the fate of the government in balance.
BJP upbeat
Soon after Mr. Nagaraj, who was seen being accompanied by former Deputy Chief Minister R. Ashoka in the airport, left Bengaluru for Mumbai, an upbeat BJP demanded that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy move the confidence motion on Monday itself.
A confident BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa said the party would get an opportunity to serve the people of the State in the next two to three days. Mr. Yeddyurappa also said he would attend the business advisory committee meeting of the Assembly on Monday morning to demand that the trust vote be held immediately.
Embarrassed by Mr. Nagaraj’s ‘volte face’, the Congress quickly held out an olive branch to seven-time legislator Ramalinga Reddy. A host of top coalition leaders, including Mr. Kumaraswamy, descended on his farmhouse on the outskirts of the city, hoping that wooing him back would have an impact on the other rebel MLAs.
Indicating how critical he is now to the government, a delegation that included former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal and senior Congressman Mallikarjun Kharge, besides the Chief Minister, held parleys with him for over three hours. Mr. Reddy later said he would reveal his stand only on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister himself led fire-fighting measures, holding talks with Congress leaders through the day. Mr. Kumaraswamy is learnt to have said that he was even willing to step down to make way for any Congress leader if it could save the coalition government.
However, a majority of the JD(S) MLAs opposed the offer tooth and nail.
