With the impasse in Karnataka reaching a boiling point, Karnataka Congress leader, minister and troubleshooter-in-chief D.K. Shivakumar will reach Mumbai on Wednesday to meet dissident ruling coalition MLAs, PTI reported.
The beleaguered JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka on Tuesday got a breather with state assembly speaker holding that the resignations of 9 out of 14 rebel MLAs are not in order on a day when another Congress legislator quit the party.
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The fate of the 13-month-old JD(S)-Congress government led by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is hinged on the speaker's decision on the resignation of the 14 MLAs including Shivajinagar MLA R. Roshan Baig who joined the bandwagon of dissidents on Tuesday. A total of 13 MLAs—10 of the Congress and 3 of the JD(S)—submitted their resignation to the speaker's office on Saturday, triggering a fresh political crisis.
As speculation mounted on the whereabouts of the rebel MLAs after they left a suburban Mumbai hotel Monday night, they returned to the western metropolis from Satara in western Maharashtra. A couple of them are reported to be camping in Bengaluru.
The legislators were earlier on their way to Goa accompanied by a BJP leader, but cut short the trip and returned to Mumbai, sources said. The two Independent MLA-ministers—H. Nagesh and R. Shankar—who withdrew support on Monday in a further blow to the government are also reported to be in Mumbai.
In June 2018, D.K. Shivakumar proved to be a major player behind the stitching up of the alliance. The 56-year-old Vokkaliga strongman is one of the richest MLAs in the state, with assets worth Rs 840 crore. On May 15, as the results pointed towards a hung assembly, the Congress struck an alliance with the JD(S). Shivakumar swung into action, roped in the two independents MLAs, and moved the Congress legislators to the Eagleton resort in Bidadi, in the outskirts of Bengaluru.
For the next five days, Shivakumar held them together, even as BJP leaders allegedly made frantic calls to the Congress MLAs seeking their support. Later, he moved the Congress and JD(S) MLAs to Hyderabad. But, they had to return soon, after the Supreme Court advanced the floor test. Even the two MLAs who went missing—Pratap Gouda Patil and party-hopper Anand Singh—were tracked by Shivakumar. And, he ensured that they reached the assembly for the floor test.
Shivakumar is one of the most trusted crisis managers for the Congress high command. In 2002, when the Congress-NCP coalition government in Maharashtra was on the verge of collapse, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh sought the help of Karnataka chief minister S.M. Krishna. On Krishna’s instructions, Shivakumar hosted the Maharashtra MLAs at the Eagleton resort for a week, and escorted them to Mumbai on the day of the trust vote. Deshmukh’s government survived and Shivakumar earned the trust of the Gandhi family.
In Karnataka, 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 Monday resigned from the ministry, the BJP has 107 MLAs in the 224-member House, where the half-way mark is 113.
If the resignations of the 14 MLAs are accepted, the coalition's tally will be reduced to 102. The speaker also has a vote.
-Inputs from Prathima Nandakumar and PTI
