22 Cong MLAs, 9 JD(S) MLAs resign in K’taka
| Date :09-Jul-2019 |
BENGALURU:
Independent MLA H Nagesh withdraws support to the Karnataka coalition Government led by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy
As the JD(S)-Congress coalition Government in Karnataka teetered on the brink of collapse, all the Ministers quit on Monday to give a free hand to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to reshuffle his Cabinet to include rebel MLAs while two Independent legislators also withdrew their support. There was no immediate word from the rebel camp on the move to reshuffle the Cabinet in a bid to save the wobbly 13-month-old Government. The resignations came as the Congress and the JD(S) made hectic efforts to save their alliance Government.
As part of the effort, the two parties asked all their Ministers to resign to pave the way for reconstitution of the Cabinet to accommodate the disgruntled and rebel MLAs. The 34-member Ministry had 22 Ministers from the Congress, 10 from Janata Dal-Secular (JD(S)) and one each from Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party (KPJP) and Independent. In a tweet in Kannada, he said that all the JD(S) Ministers “have resigned in the same manner” as the Congress Ministers did and the “Cabinet will be restructured soon”. tweeted Kumaraswamy in Kannada here.
According to sources, the Ministers submitted resignation letters to Kumaraswamy at the JD(S) legislature party meeting, held at the direction of party’s supremo H D Deve Gowda. Trouble started on Saturday when 10 Congress and three JD(S) lawmakers resigned expressing lack of confidence in the Government. However, Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar is yet to decide on the resignations. Intensifying the crisis on Monday, Independent Nagesh also resigned as Small-Scale Industries Minister and withdrew support to the coalition Government.
Nagesh, who handed over the letter to Vala at Raj Bhawan, also mentioned that he was withdrawing his support to 13-month-old Government. Independent MLA, Shankar, who is Municipalities Minister, also tendered his resignation letter to Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah along with 20 other Congress Ministers to pave way for a dozen of its rebels from withdrawing their resignations and making them Ministers to save the coalition Government from collapsing ahead of the 10-day monsoon session of the state legislature from July 12. This is second time Nagesh and Shankar, who represents the Rannebennur Assembly segment, have withdrawn support to the coalition Government. They earlier did so on January 15 after being dropped from the Ministry on December 22 in a minor Cabinet reshuffle-cum-expansion to ensure the Government’s stability.
Action shifts to Goa; 14 Karnataka MLAs leave Mumbai: FOURTEEN MLAs of the ruling JD (S)-Congress Government in Karnataka on Monday left for Goa as the scene of action on the fate of the Kumaraswamy-led regime shifted to the coastal State. The MLAs, including 10 of Congress, two of JD(S) and two Independents, left for Goa on Monday evening and are being accompanied by Mohit Bhartiya, president of the Mumbai BJP Yuva Morcha, sources said. Maharashtra BJP legislator Prasad Lad said the 14 MLAs left the luxury hotel in suburban Bandra where they were put up, at 5 pm. They are expected to stay at a resort in Goa, sources said.
I have no fear: Kumaraswamy
BENGALURU:
IN HIS first comments after 13 MLAs resigned and plunged the Congress-JD(S) coalition Government into a crisis, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday asserted he has “no fear” about the “political developments”. And was concentrating on fulfilling his responsibilities. Kumaraswamy, who returned here from his 10-day long US trip Sunday night, was talking to reporters at the State Secretariat after holding discussions with officials and farmers’ representatives regarding revival of a sugar factory in Mandya. “I have no fear about the political developments, I will not discuss about the political developments... I have nothing do with what BJP people are doing and what others are doing,” he said. Kumaraswamy added: “In the current situation, I have the responsibility of governing the state, my attention is towards fulfilling that responsibility. I have not paid any attention to political developments, there is no such need for me.”