Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs in Karnataka will protest outside the state legislature on Wednesday morning to demand the resignation of Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy because of the ongoing political crisis in the state, ANI reported on Tuesday.
After their demonstration in front of the Vidhan Soudha at 11.30 am, a BJP delegation will meet Governor Vajubhai Vala and Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, said party leader Arvind Limbavali. “We want the immediate intervention of the governor,” Limbavali told ANI. “We will decide further course of action after tomorrow’s [Wednesday’s] meetings with governor and speaker.”
On Tuesday, the MLAs protested at the party’s district headquarters, and went to meet KR Ramesh Kumar. However, the speaker was reportedly not in his office.
The 13-month-old Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government is on the verge of collapse after the resignations of 14 MLAs last week. Independent legislator H Nagesh has withdrawn his support to the government. Meanwhile, all 30 ministers – 21 of the Congress and nine of the Janata Dal (Secular) – resigned from the Cabinet on Monday to accommodate the rebel MLAs in a bid to save the government. HD Kumaraswamy is expected to announce a new Cabinet soon.
According to reports, KR Ramesh Kumar said the resignation letters of at least eight of the 14 disgruntled MLAs were not in order, and asked them to meet him this later this week.
The Congress has repeatedly blamed the BJP for orchestrating the defections. Party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday accused the BJP of appointing chief ministers “in bars and restaurants”, reported NDTV. “They have done this before in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh,” Azad told reporters outside Parliament.
His comments came after H Nagesh, who quit the coalition government on Monday, was seen with Karnataka BJP President BS Yeddyurappa’s personal assistant at the Bengaluru tarmac before flying to Mumbai. The Congress said the photographs at the airport were proof of the saffron party’s meddling. “There is a BJP hand in the Karnataka crisis,” said Azad. “Yeddyurappa’s PA was in the plane with rebel MLAs.” Azad is scheduled to visit Bengaluru to resolve the crisis.
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