Jolt to Cong-JDS govt as minister rejoins rebel camp

Bengaluru: The ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition’s attempts to make some of the rebel MLAs withdraw their resignations and save the H.D. Kumaraswamy government when the chief minister seeks a trust vote in the state Assembly suffered a big blow on Sunday with housing minister M.T.B. Nagaraj, who had given hints on Saturday that he would withdraw his resignation, flying off to Mumbai to join the other rebels.

Mr Nagaraj was seen off at HAL airport by senior BJP leader R. Ashok, exposing a BJP hand in the ongoing resignation episode. He later announced at a joint press conference addressed by the rebel MLAs camping in Mumbai that there was no question of withdrawing his resignation and that he was “firm” in his decision to quit the Assembly. With the other rebel MLAs too categorically stating at the press conference that they will not withdraw their resignations and nor will they participate in the ongoing monsoon session of the Karnataka Legislature, Congress and JD(S) leaders are fast losing hope of saving the government.

On Saturday, coalition leaders were confident that Mr Nagaraj would use his “good offices” to persuade the rebels, particularly Chikkaba-llapura MLA Dr K. Sudhakar, to rescind their decision to resign. But this is unlikely to happen now.

Addressing the joint press conference, rebels S.T. Somashekar and Mr Nagaraj said all 13 Congress and three Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs are united and will not return to Bengaluru at this juncture nor should any leader come to Mumbai as they did not want to talk with anyone.  Chikballapur Congress MLA Dr K. Sudhakar, who is in Delhi, would be joining them Sunday night, they said.

Asserting that their decision to resign from the Assembly was final, they said some vested interests were spreading rumours that a few MLAs wanted to go back to Bengaluru to support the trust vote to be moved by chief minister Kumaraswamy and asserted that these reports were “false” and “baseless”.

The MLAs claimed they were treated like trash after the coalition government came to power and none of their projects were cleared by the CM. Their letters seeking funds to take up development works in their constituencies were not considered.

All eyes are now on Speaker K. Ramesh Kumar who is likely to fix a date on Monday for the trust vote. Sources said Mr Kumaraswmay may prefer to move the confidence motion on Wednesday, after the Supreme Court hearing on the resignations of the MLAs and the disqualification petition against them.

In the 224-member House, the BJP has 105 MLAs and the support of two Independents, while the Congress-JD(S) coalition has seen its strength slipping from 118 to 100 (excluding the Speaker) after the resignation of 16 Congress and JD(S) MLAs and the withdrawal of support by the two Independents.

The monsoon session of the state Assembly will reconvene on Monday after a two-day break.

Meanwhile, buoyed by the move of the rebel Congress and JD(S) MLAs not to participate in the crucial trust vote, state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa has demanded that Mr Kumaraswamy must resign immediately, failing which a no-confidence motion will be moved against the coalition government on Monday.

Mr Yeddyurappa, while talking to reporters in the city, said as many as 15 MLAs from the JD(S) and Congress have resigned from the  Assembly, and two independent lawmakers have withdrawn their support to the coalition government. So the government has lost its majority in the 224-member House.

Mr Kumaraswamy, instead of seeking a trust vote, must put in papers and step down, he said, adding, “I will participate in the Business Advisory Committee meeting on Monday and request the Speaker, Mr K. Ramesh Kumar, to allow the Opposition party to move a no-confidence motion in case the CM fails to seek a trust vote on Monday”.

Sources also said that Mr Kumaraswamy is likely to make a graceful exit if he is not confident of winning the trust vote which he has sought in the state Assembly. His strategy is pretty simple — try to save the government by convincing the dissidents to withdraw their resignations. If the coalition loses the number game, then he would like to make his exit after making an emotional speech, said sources.