Two MLAs quit govt as K’taka tussle worsens

JD(S)-Congress combine says no threat to govt from ‘Operation Lotus’

BENGALURU: The political situation in Karnataka, where the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have accused each other of trying to poach their members, appeared fluid on Tuesday night — just eight months after assembly elections — although the government of chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said it was confident of staying in power.

Two independent legislators withdrew support to the government and some Congress politicians were untraceable, a senior politician said, as the BJP kept its MLAs in Manesar, near Gurugram, to protect them from being wooed by the ruling dispensation.

R Shankar, member of the legislative assembly from Ranebennur in Haveri district, who was dropped from the state Cabinet last month, and H Nagesh, MLA from Mulbagal in Kolar district, announced their decisions to withdraw support at a press conference in Mumbai and sent a letter to that effect to governor Vajubhai Vala.

“I worked as a minister for 6-7 months thanks to the blessings of my constituents. But I wanted to do more work and since I did not get the government’s backing I am taking back my support to the

government,” Shankar said.

Since Monday, there was speculation that the BJP has been in touch with some Congress MLAs. Some leaders of the Congress are reported to be in a hotel in Mumbai. HT could not verify this independently.

With the departure of the two independent MLAs, the strength of the coalition is down to 118 in a house of 224 members — 80 of the Congress, including speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, 37 of the JD(S), and a lone legislator of the Bahujan Samaj Party. With 104 MLAs, even if the two independent legislators extend their support, the BJP is still short of the majority

mark of 113 by seven MLAs.

What makes the task of toppling the government harder is that any MLA who defects from the Congress or the JD(S) to the other side will have to resign from the assembly because of the antidefection law, under which twothirds members of a party must leave en mass to form a new group. That effectively means that even if the two independents switch to the BJP, for a total of 106, it will need 13 MLAs from the government to quit to bring the strength of the house down to 211 to gain a simple majority.

“I have not taken any responsibilities for the Independent

MLAs, I have formed the government with the support of the Congress, not those two Independents... If two MLAs have withdrawn support what will be the numbers? I am totally relaxed,” Kumaraswamy told reporters.

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge also expressed confidence that the government was stable. “Let BJP try as much as they want, but the government is stable. All people have been elected on ideology and they are not going to leave. However, BJP keeps on trying [to poach] because they are habitual,” Kharge told ANI.