With the resignation of the 11 MLAs, Congress now holds 69 seats and JDS 34 along with the support of the 2 BSP and an independent MLA. (Source: PTI Photo)The Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka is on shaky ground after 11 MLAs — eight from Congress and three from JDS — resigned from the Assembly Saturday. With the resignations, Congress now holds 69 seats and JD(S) 34.
Last week, two Congress MLAs — Ramesh Jharkiholi from Gokak constituency in Belagavi region and Anand Singh from Vijayanagar constituency in Ballari region — had tendered their resignations. The two resignations had brought down the effective simple majority mark in the House from 113 seats to 112. That’s because the overall strength of the assembly is just 222 as against 224 earlier.
With the fresh spate of resignations, the Congress-JD(S) coalition tally now falls to 103 seats but more significantly, the overall strength of the House now stands at 211. This, in turn, means that the effective simple majority mark is 106 — one less than the overall strength of the BJP. However, the coalition has the support of two Independents and one BSP MLA right now. Follow LIVE Updates
When asked if the BJP would form the government in Karnataka, BJP leader DV Sadananda Gowda said, “Governor is the supreme authority, as per the constitutional mandate if he calls us, certainly we are ready to form the government. We are the single largest party, we have got 105 people with us.”
Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and state minister D K Shivakumar have called for an emergency meeting of Congress MLAs and corporators later today. “Nobody will resign, I had come to meet them,” Shivakumar was quoted as saying by ANI.
Eight Congress and three JD(S) MLAs reached the office of Karnataka Assembly Speaker on Saturday. (ANI)The state BJP, led by former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, has been keen to dislodge the coalition and form its own government. But the party’s central leadership is more intent on playing the waiting game and allow infighting and contradictions in the coalition to bring down the government.
Yeddyurappa, who initially solicited support from rebel MLAs by expressing intent to face fresh elections, has now changed his stance and repeatedly said that a new government will be formed by the BJP without dissolving the current Assembly.
The coalition’s plans to dissuade the MLAs from breaking away seems to be falling apart even after several tactical moves to prevent the BJP from gaining a mathematical upper hand in the assembly. The coalition recently gave ministerial posts to two independent MLAs to make it harder for the BJP to undermine the coalition. The government also appointed a rebel Congress MLA K Sudhakar as head of the state pollution board.
