‘Wait and watch’, says Yeddyurappa as Karnataka govt plunges into crisis

The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government of Karnataka is tottering after 12 MLAs of the ruling coalition handed their resignations to the assembly speaker.

The Congress has accused the BJP of trying to topple the state government and dismissed talk of a crisis. Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah said, “Nothing will happen, government will continue. How will it (government) be unstable? Resignations have to get accepted, right? They have not been accepted yet.”

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

The BJP has said it is ready to form the government if the governor invites them but insisted that it had nothing to do with the differences in the Congress-JD(S) combine. “Let’s wait and see. I don’t want to answer to what HD Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah say. I am nowhere related to this (crisis),” Yeddyurappa was quoted as saying by ANI.

Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda had Saturday said Yeddyurappa is BJP’s CM candidate in case the party forms the government in Karnataka.

If the 13 resignations, including that of Singh, are accepted, the effective strength of the 224member 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

The differences in the Congress-JD(S) government, which came together to forestall a BJP bid for power in the only southern state it has ever ruled, have been out in the open for quite sometime. Leaders of both the parties have been involved in war of words.

The Congress and JD(S) won just one Lok Sabha seat each in the Lok Sabha elections while the BJP won 25 of the 28 seats in the state.