Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy is likely to resign on Thursday even as the political uncertainty in the state worsened. He will take a final decision after a crucial cabinet meeting in Bengaluru, as per reports.
HDK may resign to make way for the Congress to head the state government, some reports have said. The chief minister's office has confirmed that all the ministers will be present at the meeting as they have only submitted their resignations to their party presidents and not to the CM.
A major reshuffle is expected in the cabinet to make room for the dissident MLAs. A total of 16 MLAs from the Congress-JD(S) coalition have resigned and two independent MLAs have withdrawn their support.
Meanwhile, Congress strongman DK Shivakumar is desperately trying to save the coalition government. He had gone to Mumbai to meet the 10 disgruntled MLAs but was prevented by the police from entering a hotel where they are camping. The MLAs have been camping at the Renaissance hotel in Powai since July 6.
The rebel MLAs have also moved the Supreme Court against Karnataka Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar. They allege that Kumar is deliberately not accepting their resignation.
The rebel MLAs who have filed the application are Arbail Shivaram Hebbar, Mahesh Kumathalli, Pratap Gouda Patil, K Gopalaiah, A H Vishwanath, Byrati Basavaraj, BC Patil, Ramesh Jarkiholi, ST Somashekhar and Narayana Gowda. "That the present petition is being filed by members of the Legislative Assembly who have resigned from the assembly and yet their resignations have not been accepted by the speaker of the house in a mala fide manner," the petition reads.
