With political theatrics of Karnataka becoming the talk of the country, Congress leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is leaving no stone unturned to put up a brave front by putting his house in order.The efforts have received a boost with disgruntled Congress MLA MTB Nagaraj saying he would remain with the party.
Siddaramaiah has exeduded confidence that he would manage to get most MLAs on the board during the floor test of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government.
He has claimed other rebel MLAs will join the party ahead of the crucial floor test on Monday. He also hopes that Chikballapur MLA Sudhakar will also return to the party fold like Nagraj.
Siddaramaiah has also said Congress is trying to get in touch with everyone and claimed he is in touch with Ramalinga Reddy.
Talking to the media on Sunday, Nagaraj said he and party legislatore K Sudhakar Rao had given resignations from MLAs’ post. However, as everyone was asking him to stay in Congress he decided to stay with the party.
Hoskote MLA Nagaraj and Chikballapur Congress MLA Rao had tendered resignations from the Assembly on July 10.
Congress troubleshooter D.K Shivakumar visited Hoskote MLA’s residence early in the morning to convince him to take back his resignation.
Later, Nagaraj said he will try to convince Sudhakar to take back his resignation as well.
Meanwhile, five more dissident legislators approached the Supreme Court seeking its direction to Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar to accept their “voluntarily” resignations and not proceed to disqualify them, according to ANI.
Earlier, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy left everyone surprised by seeking a trust vote in the state assembly on Monday.
After Kumaraswamy’s announcement, the BJP challenged him to move a confidence motion in the state Assembly on Monday to prove that his coalition government has a majority.
Opposition BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa said since HDK himself offered to seek a trust vote he would request the Speaker to allow him to move it on Monday once the session resumes.
He also said that Kumaraswamy has lost majority after 16 MLAs resigned and added that he should resign and allow a new government to take over to work for the people of the state.
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Yeddyurappa, who is also a former Karnataka chief minister, admitted he was in contact with the rebel MLAs of Congress and JD(S) who are staying at a hotel in Mumbai.
The Congress-JD(S) coalition government in the state is facing crisis ever since 16 rebel legislators resigned from their Assembly seats.
Independent MLAs R Shankar and H Nagesh have written a letter to the Speaker asking him to arrange their seating in the opposition benches in the Assembly.