Bharatiya Janata Party’s Karnataka unit president BS Yeddyurappa on Sunday said he will request Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy to resign from his post immediately as more than 15 MLAs from the ruling Janata Dal (Secular) and Congress coalition have resigned, reported ANI. Yeddyurappa said two Independent MLAs have also quit, and that the lawmakers have extended their support to the saffron party.
Meanwhile, former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has called for a legislature party meeting on Monday at 9 am at a hotel in Bengaluru where the MLAs are staying, the Hindustan Times reported. Siddaramaiah also met the rebel MLAs at the Taj Vivanta hotel in Bengaluru, ANI reported. The senior Congress leader announced the meeting after one of the rebel MLAs, MTB Nagaraj, on Saturday said he would reconsider his resignation from the Assembly.
Nagaraj claimed to have spoken to a few Congress leaders, including DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, who asked him to reconsider his decision. He had submitted his resignation letter to Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar on Wednesday.
Nagaraj added that he would have to discuss it with another MLA, K Sudhakar, who had resigned along with him. He has reportedly said that he would try to convince Sudhakar to reconsider his resignation as well.
The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) are likely to intensify efforts to pacify the remaining 15 rebel MLAs over the weekend as Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Friday said he was ready for a trust vote in the Assembly to prove his majority.
If the MLAs do not return to their parties before the trust vote, the government will have the support of only 101 MLAs if Nagaraj stands by his decision. The BJP will have the support of 107 MLAs. Speaker Kumar has not yet scheduled the trust vote.
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