As the Congress intensified efforts to woo back its disgruntled MLAs in Karnataka on July 13, one of them hinted that he might consider withdrawing his resignation and also said he would try to persuade others.
Housing Minister and Hoskote MLA M.T.B. Nagaraj, one of the 16 rebel MLAs of the Congress-JD(S) coalition who resigned from the Assembly last week, said senior Congress leaders, including former Chief Minister Siddaramiah, met him and asked him to withdraw his resignation.
“Siddaramaiah and Dinesh Gundu Rao called me and requested me to withdraw the resignation and stay in the party. I have sought time to mull over it.
“I told them I will speak to Chikkaballapura MLA K. Sudhakar and persuade him to withdraw his resignation. We are planning to stay here only,” Mr. Nagaraj told reporters. However, Mr. Sudhakar on July 13 moved the Supreme Court against the Assembly Speaker not accepting his resignation . He was among the five rebels who have sought impleadment in the pending application filed by the 10 other rebel MLAs on which the hearing is scheduled for July 16.
He was flanked by Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, State Water Resource Minister D.K. Shivakumar and other Congress leaders.
To a query on whether all the differences were sorted out, Mr. Nagaraj said he had resigned due to certain “discontentment” and that there was disagreement in every political party. “The party high-command is trying to persuade the MLAs. I will also try my best to help them in their efforts,” he added.
Mr. Nagaraj then left for Mr. Siddaramaiah’s residence.
A day after Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy made a surprise announcement in the Assembly that he would seek a trust vote in the House, efforts were intensified by the ruling coalition to reach out to the rebel MLAs.
Mr. Shivakumar, Congress’ “troubleshooter”, reached Mr. Nagaraj’s residence early on July 13 and camped there for almost four-and-a-half hours, trying to pacify the Hoskote MLA.
Subsequently, Mr. Parameshwara too reached Mr. Nagaraj’s house to convince him to withdraw his resignation.
A similar attempt was on to persuade MLAs Ramalinga Reddy, Munirathna and R Roshan Baig apart from Mr. Sudhakar, the legislator from Chikkaballapura.
Sources in the Janata Dal (Secular) said Mr. Kumaraswamy was in direct talks with at least four Congress legislators, who had resigned, and was hopeful that they would withdraw their resignations.
Triggering speculation, a group of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, led by MLA S.R. Vishwanath and Bengaluru corporator Padmanabha Reddy, met Mr. Ramalinga Reddy at his residence. However, Mr. Ramalinga Reddy refused to comment on the development, saying he would not speak on politics till July 15 as he had to appear before the Assembly Speaker.
Meanwhile, his daughter and Congress MLA Sowmya Reddy said she had no information about the meeting. “I am in the Congress and I have not resigned. My father has resigned and all the questions pertaining to his resignation should be asked to him,” she said.
In a bid to keep their flocks together ahead of the floor test in the Assembly that is likely to take place in the coming week, both the Congress and the BJP have shifted their MLAs to hotels and resorts.
Two independent MLAs seek seats on Opposition side
Meanwhile, two independent MLAs, who recently withdrew support to the Congress-JD(S) coalition, have written to the Assembly Speaker requesting him to allot them seats on the Opposition side in the House.
In separate letters to the Speaker, both H. Nagesh (Mulabagilu MLA) and R. Shankar (Ranebennur MLA) stated that they had withdrawn support to the ruling coalition and requested him to make seating arrangements for them on the Opposition side in the Assembly.
The monsoon session of the Karnataka Assembly began on July 12 and is scheduled to end on July 26. Both the independent legislators were absent on the first day of the session.
