The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance in Karnataka faced a major drubbing as eleven legislators belonging to the coalition party resigned on Saturday, July 6 at Vidhana Soudha.
The disgruntled MLAs -- Ramesh Jarakiholi, BC Patil, Mahantesh Kumatalli, Shivram Hebbar, Pratapgouda Patil, ST Somashekhar, Byrati Basavaraj, -- have quit the Congress party and -- H Vishwanath, Gopalaiah and Narayanagowda -- have resigned from the JD(S). The government will collapse if 4 more MLAs resign from their party's.
According to the reports, former home minister and MLA of BTM Layout Ramalinga Reddy and his daughter Sowmya Reddy have also resigned from the Congress. The working president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Eeshwar Khandre had met Ramalinga Reddy to request him from not resigning from the party. "I've been associated with the Congress since my student days, and it pains me that I have to leave," Reddy told the reporters.
A huge drama is taking place at Vidhana Soudha were the legislators from both the parties have arrived to give their resignation. Other Congress legislators ST Somashekar, Byrathi Basavaraj and Muniratna has also arrived at Vidhana Soudha, but the status of their resignation is yet to be confirmed. The speaker KR Ramesh Kumar on Saturday morning told the reporters that the MLA's resigning from the party is just a rumour.
All the eleven legislators visited the speaker Ramesh Kumar's house to officially give their resignation letters. It is also alleged that Congress leader and minister MTB Nagaraj, who is a close aide of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah, is also likely to resign from the party. Siddaramaiah has not yet reacted to the recent developments.
The state government is at a chaotic stage as most of the party leadership is either mum over the events or are away from the country. The chief minister HD Kumaraswamy is in the US and the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao has gone on a family vacation to Europe while the coalition government is failing miserably. However, Kumaraswamy is expected to reach Bengaluru on Sunday.
The All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of Karnataka KC Venugopal is expected to arrive in Bengaluru on Saturday evening. He has warned the party legislators of disciplinary action against them. He said that there is no threat to the coalition government.
Even as the party leaders are submitting their resignation letters, the Congress strongman and water resources minister DK Shivakumar said that nobody will resign from the party. A confident DKS had earlier claimed that none of his party leaders will fall prey to 'Operation Lotus'.
