Cong-JD (S) coalition in Karnataka on verge of collapse after 12 MLAs resign

The Congress-Janata Dal(Secular) government of Karnataka plunged into a crisis on Saturday after 12 MLAs of the ruling coalition handed their resignations to the assembly speaker in a new headache for the grand old party, which is still trying to recover from its heavy defeat in the general election and the resignation of its president Rahul Gandhi.

Out of the 12 legislators who submitted their resignations to Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, nine were from the Congress and three from the JD(S). They submitted papers to quit the House five days after Congress MLA Anand Singh submitted his own resignation over differences he had with the government over the sale of mining land. Singh’s resignation hasn’t been accepted by the Speaker so far.

On Saturday, the legislators were not able to meet the Speaker, who was not in his chamber, and left their resignations with aides in his office.

If the 13 resignations, including that of Singh, are accepted, the effective strength of the 224-member House would be reduced to 211. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with 105 MLAs, will fall just two short of a simple majority. The coalition’s strength will come down to 106, including the Speaker.

Seven-time MLA Ramalinga Reddy told reporters as he entered Vidhana Soudha that he felt he had been sidelined and that’s why he had decided to resign.

“Congress working president {of Karnataka} Eshwar Khandre met me and tried to convince me {not to resign}. I have said in the past that I feel I’m big being sidelined and discriminated {against}. I have nothing against the Congress or the party high command,” he said.

The Congress-JD (S) coalition has been restive since it was formed in May last year after assembly elections from which the BJP emerged as the largest party in the House, but lacked a majority on its own. Reports have frequently surfaced of differences between the two partners, which came together to forestall a BJP bid for power in the only southern state it has ever ruled.

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In the April-May general election, the two parties won just one Lok Sabha seat each. The BJP swept 25, contributing to the party’s landslide win. Rahul Gandhi, whose party was reduced to just 52 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, confirmed his resignation as the Congress president this week.

After the resignations, if they are accepted, the coalition will have the support of 106 MLAs – 69 from the Congress, including the Speaker, 34 from the JD(S), one Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA and two independents.

The nine Congress MLAs who submitted their resignations were Reddy (a former home minister), Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumathahalli, ST Somashekhar, BA Basavaraj, BC Patil, Pratapgouda Patil, Shivaram Hebbar, and Munirathna, the Speaker’s office said. The three JD(S) MLAs were AH Vishwanath, who resigned as the

party’s state president just last month, K Gopalaiah and Narayana Gowda. The MLAs flew to Mumbai in the evening on a chartered flight.

Addressing reporters after the meeting of senior party leaders in New Delhi on Saturday evening, Congress media incharge Randeep Surjewala said: “We deprecate the efforts of the BJP to buy our legislators, to pressurise legislators into resigning in order to bring down an elected government in Karnataka.” The Congress alleged that the BJP was “orchestrating the defections”.

BJP leader DV Sadananda Gowda said the MLAs decided to resign as they thought it was not in the interest of the people of the state and their constituency to be part of the current government. “If the Governor calls us, certainly we are ready to form the government as we are the single largest party. We have got 105 people with us,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.

The latest development came at a time when both chief minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy and Congress state president Dinesh Gundu Rao are out of India. Kumaraswamy is in the US and Gundu Rao in Europe on personal visits.

Congress’s Karnataka minister and local troubleshooter DK Shivakumar met the MLAs outside the Governor’s house. All India Congress Committee general secretary KC Venugopal arrived in the city to hold talks with senior Congress leaders, including former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who dismissed talk of a crisis.

“Nothing will happen... Venugopal will come (to Bengaluru)...nothing will happen, government will continue,” Siddaramaiah said earlier in the day.

“How will it (government) be unstable? Resignations have to get accepted, right? They have not been accepted yet.”

JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda said the ball was in the Speaker’s court.

The BJP, which has come under attack from the Congress-JD(S) combine for allegedly trying to destabilise the government by luring MLAs to its fold, said it had nothing to do with the resignations.

State BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa said the party would take an “appropriate decision at the appropriate time”. Asked if BJP would move to stake a claim before the Governor for forming government, Yeddyurappa said: “We will not do such things. We will wait and watch the developments that are unfolding.”

A senior BJP leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said more such resignations could follow next week. “We will most likely move a no-confidence motion in the upcoming session,” the leader said. The monsoon session of the assembly is set to begin on July 12.

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