Even as the Congress-JDS alliance in Karnataka is teetering on the edge with the resignation of 14 MLAs, former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramiah Sunday said he is in touch with a few leaders and that everybody is “expected to be loyal” to the party. “I am in touch with 5-6 MLAs. I can’t reveal all the details. Everybody is loyal to the party. It is not a question of a person being loyal to me. Everybody is expected to be loyal to the party,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Even as the Congress-JDS alliance in Karnataka is teetering on the edge with the resignation of 14 MLAs, former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramiah Sunday said he is in touch with a few leaders and that everybody is “expected to be loyal” to the party. “I am in touch with 5-6 MLAs. I can’t reveal all the details. Everybody is loyal to the party. It is not a question of a person being loyal to me. Everybody is expected to be loyal to the party,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Reports suggest that a few of MLAs who resigned are unhappy with the performance of the coalition government and over its failure to address local issues that concern them. The 14 MLAs (11 Congress and three JDS) have submitted their resignations to the Speaker. If accepted, the coalition will lose majority in the 224-member Assembly as its strength will come down to 104 against the BJP’s 105.
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge also told reporters that he wants the alliance to continue and that the party will see what can be done to resolve the grievances of the disgruntled leaders. He also refuted reports of him being made the Karnataka CM. “I want this alliance govt to continue. We want that this should go on smoothly. These are all flimsy information being fed to the press just to divide us,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy will return from his visit to the United States today. In his absence, Congress leader and minister D K Shivakumar, considered the Congress troubleshooter for the coalition, tried to convince the disgruntled MLAs from quitting but failed.
Speaker Ramesh Kumar, who was not in office when the legislators arrived, had said “whether the government will fall or survive” will be decided “in the Assembly”. Unable to meet the Speaker, who asked the MLAs to return on Tuesday, the rebel legislators on Saturday met Governor Vala and conveyed their desire to quit.
While the Congress accused the BJP of trying to “bring down an elected government” and asserted that the government in Karnataka would continue, state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa said his party had nothing to do with the crisis.
The MLAs who have resigned are H Vishwanath, Y Gopalaiah and K C Narayana Gouda from the JDS; the Congress MLAs are B C Patil, Mahesh Kumatahalli, Ramesh Jharkiholi, Shivaram Hebbar, Prathapgouda Patil, Ramalinga Reddy, Byrathi Basavaraj, N Munirathna, S T Somashekhar and Anand Singh. Another Congress MLA, Anand Singh, resigned on July 1.
Reports suggest that a few of MLAs who resigned are unhappy with the performance of the coalition government and over its failure to address local issues that concern them. The 14 MLAs (11 Congress and three JDS) have submitted their resignations to the Speaker. If accepted, the coalition will lose majority in the 224-member Assembly as its strength will come down to 104 against the BJP’s 105.
Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge also told reporters that he wants the alliance to continue and that the party will see what can be done to resolve the grievances of the disgruntled leaders. He also refuted reports of him being made the Karnataka CM. “I want this alliance govt to continue. We want that this should go on smoothly. These are all flimsy information being fed to the press just to divide us,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy will return from his visit to the United States today. In his absence, Congress leader and minister D K Shivakumar, considered the Congress troubleshooter for the coalition, tried to convince the disgruntled MLAs from quitting but failed.
Speaker Ramesh Kumar, who was not in office when the legislators arrived, had said “whether the government will fall or survive” will be decided “in the Assembly”. Unable to meet the Speaker, who asked the MLAs to return on Tuesday, the rebel legislators on Saturday met Governor Vala and conveyed their desire to quit.
While the Congress accused the BJP of trying to “bring down an elected government” and asserted that the government in Karnataka would continue, state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa said his party had nothing to do with the crisis.
The MLAs who have resigned are H Vishwanath, Y Gopalaiah and K C Narayana Gouda from the JDS; the Congress MLAs are B C Patil, Mahesh Kumatahalli, Ramesh Jharkiholi, Shivaram Hebbar, Prathapgouda Patil, Ramalinga Reddy, Byrathi Basavaraj, N Munirathna, S T Somashekhar and Anand Singh. Another Congress MLA, Anand Singh, resigned on July 1.