Bengaluru: The ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition received the biggest jolt of its 13-month-long tenure when two Congress MLAs and former ministers — Anand Singh (Vijayanagar) and Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak) — announced their resignation from the Legislative Assembly on Monday.
Though the coalition continues to enjoy a comfortable majority in the Assembly with 116 MLAs (if the resignations are accepted), there are jitters in the Congress camp with reports doing the rounds that more MLAs, disgusted with the “non-performance” of the coalition government and the constant bickering with the JD(S), are planning to following in the footsteps of Mr Jarkiholi and Mr Singh.
It is not clear if the resignations of the two MLAs are part of a bigger and planned effort to eventually reduce the coalition government to a minority and ensure its exit.
With chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy recently inducting two Independents into the ministry in an apparent move to give stability to his wobbly government, the coalition strength in the 224-member Assembly stands at 118 (Congress-78, JD(S)-37, BSP-1 and Independents-2), besides the Speaker. The BJP has 105 MLAs.
While Mr Anand Singh’s resignation letter Jolt to Congress in Karnataka as 2 MLAs resign arrived with riders — scrap the controversial decision to sell 3, 667 acres land to JSW Steel in ore-rich Ballari district and carve a separate district out of Vijayanagar.
Mr Jarkiholi, who had earlier threatened to quit, sent in his resignation letter by fax from Mumbai, “voluntarily”, but explained that he advanced his decision by a day in order to avoid an inauspicious day (New Moon Day) on Tuesday.
The move by these two MLAs triggered angry reactions from both Mr Kumaraswamy and KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao and accusations that the BJP was constantly attempting to destabilise the 13-month-old government.
“I am observing all the developments in the state from here (USA). The BJP is day dreaming about destabilising the state government,” remarked Mr Kumaraswamy in a tweet.
Mr Rao told the media, “The BJP is trying to destabilise the government, but there is no threat. It is stable and will complete its term. BJP central leaders are misusing power and agencies to mount pressure and blackmail some MLAs.”
Mr Rao also held damage-control meetings with deputy chief minister Dr G. Parameshwar, water resources minister D.K. Shivakumar and CLP leader Siddaramaiah.
Monday’s resignations mirror the discontent among Congress legislators a fortnight after expansion of the Cabinet with the induction of two Independents — R. Shankar and H. Nagesh — in a move to provide stability to the government and shore up its strength in the Assembly.
Mr Singh, who was involved in fisticuffs with fellow legislators, Bhima Nayak and J.N. Ganesh, during their stay at a resort couple of months ago, indicated that he was willing to reconsider his decision to quit the Assembly.
“If the state government decides go against its decision, I may reconsider my decision and I want to make it very clear that I am not resigning as part of any Operation Lotus,” he told the media after a meeting with governor Vajubhai Vala, ending speculation that he could return to the BJP.
He appealed to the Cabinet sub-committee constituted to think about allotment of land to JSW Steel to take a stand against the decision of the Cabinet and set an example for other states as well.
“I am not against the industry. The industry must grow, jobs should be generated and youth should get employment. If I don’t oppose injustice to my district then it is unbecoming of my being a public representative,” he added.
