The rebel Karnataka Congress MLAs who were lodged in a luxury hotel in Mumbai following their resignation from the H D Kumaraswamy government, have now been shifted to an undisclosed location in the city even as the CLP meeting began in Bengaluru to tide over the crisis caused by the resignation.
Earlier, there was a plan to shift the MLAs to Pune, which was later changed to Goa, but now they have been put up at an undisclosed location in Mumbai, ANI reports.
In a last ditch effort to save the government, HD Kumaraswamy and top coalition leaders scrambled to save the government with multiple meetings on Monday and announced that all 32 ministers had resigned in a bid to make room for some of the disgruntled leaders. But the strategy appeared to have floundered with several rebel leaders reiterating their commitment to quit the coalition.
Last night, Congress leaders KC Venugopal, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Siddaramaiah, G Parameshwara, MB Patil, and Eshwara Khandre also held a meeting at an undisclosed location with legal advisers, ANI reports.
Adding to the Congress-JDS coalition’ headache was the resignations of two independent MLAs – H Nagesh and R Shankar, who were a part of the government. This took the leaders by surprise because both had been inducted into the Cabinet in June to stabilise the government.
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Meanwhile, the BJP has demanded the resignation of HD Kumaraswamy, saying he has lost the confidence of the House. The party’s state unit president BS Yeddyurappa claimed that the government has lost the majority in the Assembly and Kumaraswamy has no moral right to continue.
All eyes are now on Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, who returns to Bengaluru on Tuesday and has to take a call on 13 resignations – nine Congress and three JD(S) MLAs on Saturday, and rebel lawmaker Anand Singh who quit a week ago. The rebels had said they felt sidelined and wanted to back the BJP.
If their resignations are accepted, the strength of the House falls from 224 (one additional member is nominated) to 211 and the majority mark becomes 106. The coalition will have 104 members (including the Speaker who cannot vote in a floor test, except to break a tie) while the BJP will have the support of 105, and the likely backing of two independents.
The assembly session begins on Friday.