New Delhi:
Hours after the Supreme Court allowed the rebel Karnataka MLAs to submit their resignations to Assembly Speaker, Ramesh Kumar moved the top court seeking stay of the morning order saying that he can’t verify the resignations by the end of the day. But the Supreme Court declined Karnataka Speaker’s urgent plea, saying his plea will be heard tomorrow. With this, the stage shifts to Vidhana Soudha, where the rebel MLAs will meet the Assembly Speaker at 6pm. Meanwhile, as part of preventive measure, Section 144 has been imposed around the state Assembly House. The rebel MLAs have left for Bengaluru and were snapped outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport before boarding the flight.
Meanwhile, embattled Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy yet again rejected demands over his resignations. "Why should I resign? What is the necessity for me to resign now?," Kumaraswamy hit back at media persons, amidst the speculation that he could put in his papers in the wake of the crisis.
Thirteen MLAs -- 10 of the Congress and three of the JD(S) -- submitted their resignation to the Speaker's office on July 6 triggering a fresh political crisis in the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in the state. Another Congress MLA R Roshan Baig resigned on Tuesday. On Wednesday, in yet another setback to Congress-JDS coalition government in Karnataka, two more MLAs of the Congress - MTB Nagraj and Dr Sudhakar - submitted their resignations to Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar. With this, the total number of MLAs who resigned from their post has gone up to 16, including independent lawmaker R Roshan Baig. Dr Sudhakar, the lawmaker from Chikkaballapur, was said to be angry with the Kumaraswamy government after he had been removed from the post of Pollution Control Board Chairman ealier this year. He had then threatened to "stand for himself" if the high command refused to listen to him. The 44-year old MBBS graduate, who also had a small corporate stint before joining the politics, had often showed rebelion signs by giving given blunt comments. The Karnataka Speaker has not accepted the resignation of any of the MLAs.
The ruling coalition's total strength is 116 (Congress-78), JD(S)-37 and BSP-1, besides the Speaker. With the support of the two independents, who on July 8 resigned from the ministry, the BJP has 107 MLAs in the 224-member House, where the half-way mark is 113.
