Face of Nation : The problems seem to be mounting for the Congress and JD(S) alliance government in Karnataka. Infact, the way it is going, HD Kumaraswamy may face immense trouble in retaining his Chief Minister’s post. On Monday morning, even as Congress leaders huddled in Deputy CM G Parameshwara’s house to decide on a strategy to save the government. another MLA who was part of the alliance resigned.
Mulbagal MLA Nagesh has sent his resignation letter to CM Kumaraswamy and Karnataka speaker. He was one of the independents who was inducted into the cabinet in the June 12 expansion. Clearly, that didn’t stop him from switching sides, which looks to be most likely.
So far, 14 MLAs have resigned in the last few days, out of which 10 are from Congress, 3 from JD(S) and 1 Independent and now the government is in minority.
In the meeting called by Parameshwara, senior leaders including Siddaramaiah attended and all Congress ministers were asked to quit, according to sources so that the dissidents can be accommodated. According to sources, the 10 Congress MLAs are currently meeting after they got to know that the party ministers may resign to end the crisis. Some of them are in touch with HD Kumaraswamy.
Later Congress MP DK Suresh confirmed to ANI that all party ministers will resign. They are sending their resignation to former CM and Congress Legislative Party head Siddaramaiah.
Top leaders including Karnataka Congress Legislature Party leader Siddharamaiah & Ministers UT Khader, Shivashankara Reddy, Venkataramanappa, Jayamala, MB Patil, Krishna Byre Gowda, Rajshekar Patil, Rajshekar Patil, DK Shivakumar attended the meeting.
In that, it was decided that all Congress ministers will resign and Dy. CM will reconstitute the cabinet.
Incidentally, 16 out of the 22 Congress Ministers attended the crucial meeting.
With Karnataka in the throes of a political crisis, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy met dissenting Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy on Monday.
According to sources, the meeting took place at an undisclosed location in the city.
With the dramatic turn of events, Kumaraswamy had to cut short his US visit and return to Bengaluru on Sunday, as the state government appears to have fallen into a minority.
Apart from Reddy, who is considered to be a senior Congressman, Anand Singh, Ramesh Jarkiholi, BC Patil, H Vishwanath, Narayan Gowda, S Hebbar, Mahesh Kumatalli, Gopalayya, and Pratap Gowda Patil also tendered their resignations. However, the Speaker is yet to accept the resignations.Dissident MLAs who are currently stationed in Mumbai on Sunday night told the media that they will not be taking back their resignation. Infact, they made it clear that they have lost confidence in the alliance government and have decided to resign.
