Bengaluru: The cracks in the Karnataka Congress are now well and truly exposed as two party legislators, Anand Singh, the MLA from Vijayanagara, and Ramesh Jarkiholi, the Gokak MLA, resigned from the state assembly Monday.
The resignations put the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government in a precarious position as the coalition now has the support of 117 legislators as against the halfway mark of 113 in the 224-member assembly. Of these, 77 are Congress MLAs, 37 are JD(S) legislators, two are Independents and one is a Bahujan Samaj Party legislators.
The BJP is the single largest party in the state with 105 MLAs.
Sources in the warring faction of the Congress told ThePrint that more resignations are likely to follow in the coming days. A section of the Congress is unhappy with the party’s state leadership as well as with the working of the coalition partner, the JD(S).
A senior Congress leader, on condition of anonymity, told ThePrint that both MLAs quit as they were upset by the “highhandedness” of the Congress Legislature Party leader and former chief minister, Siddaramaiah.
“Don’t be surprised if a few more MLAs quit in the next few days,” the leader said, indicating that the Bellary MLA B. Nagendra, Athani MLA Mahesh Kumathalli, Hirekerur MLA B.C. Patil and Maski MLA Pratap Gowda Patil may all follow suit.
Although the BJP has claimed that it played no role in the resignations, Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy accused the opposition of attempting to topple his government. Currently in the US on a private visit, he tweeted, “I’m at the Kalabhairaveshwara temple foundation laying ceremony (in New Jersey). I’m watching TV channels. Destabilising the government continues to be a daydream of BJP.”
ಅಮೇರಿಕದ ನ್ಯೂ ಜೆರ್ಸಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕಾಲಭೈರವೇಶ್ವರ ದೇವಸ್ಥಾನದ ಭೂಮಿ ಪೂಜೆ ಸ್ವಾಮೀಜಿಗಳ ದಿವ್ಯ ಸಾನ್ನಿಧ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದಿದೆ.
ರಾಜ್ಯದ ಎಲ್ಲ ವಿದ್ಯಮಾನಗಳನ್ನು ಇಲ್ಲಿಂದಲೇ ಗಮನಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ರಾಜ್ಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಸರ್ಕಾರವನ್ನು ಅಸ್ಥಿರಗೊಳಿಸುವ #BJP ಯ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ 'ನಿರಂತರ ಹಗಲುಗನಸು'— H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) July 1, 2019
MLAs resorting to pressure tactics: State Congress
Senior state Congress leaders accused both Singh and Jarkiholi of resorting to pressure tactics and urged the party high command in New Delhi to find a solution and stop the dissent in the local unit.
“The reason behind Anand Singh’s resignation is to do with the Jindal Steel Works deal. A C-category land belonging to Anand Singh was given to the company and he was completely against it,” another senior Congress leader alleged. “He wants to show his protest by pressuring the Kumaraswamy government.”
“Jarkiholi is using the opportunity to get what he wants — a ministerial berth and to reduce the influence of his archrival in the party D.K. Shivakumar,” the leader added.
Singh is known to change allegiances often. He had served as the tourism minister in the previous BJP government headed by B.S. Yeddyurappa but shifted to the Congress just before the 2018 assembly elections.
Singh was the MLA hospitalised in January after a brawl with another Congress MLA, J.N. Ganesh, when the party legislators were kept at a Bengaluru resort to prevent the BJP from poaching them.
Jarkiholi has been up in arms ever since he was dropped from the state cabinet in December. He has since been accused of herding a few Congress lawmakers to Mumbai and keeping them at a resort to try and poach them while they were in talks with the BJP.
Analysts, however, say that the latest development may not really threaten the government.
“The two MLAs who have tendered resignations seem to have different motives. Therefore, the coalition can manage the resignations differently,” said professor Chandan Gowda of the Azim Premji University. “The talk of the other two or three MLA resignations is mere speculation at this point. In any case, at least 15 MLAs need to resign for the coalition to have fewer legislators than the BJP and lose its strength in the Assembly.”
Also read: Kumaraswamy refuses to work for Modi voters – a sign of frustrated, undemocratic opposition?