The Congres-JD (S) government in Karnataka is in big trouble after eight more MLA’s in the coalition submitted their resignation. The Congress MLA’s who resigned include BC Patil, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumatalli, Subba Reddy, Shivaram Hebbar, and Prathapgouda Patil. MLAs from JD (S) who submitted their resignation include H Vishwanath, K Gopalaiah, and Narayana Gowda.
These three politicians submitted their resignations to the secretary of speaker KR Ramesh as the speaker was not in the office.
Resignations Over Being Neglected
A senior Congress legislator who submitted his resignation papers at the Vidhan Soudha told media, “I have come to submit my resignation to the speaker. I don’t know about my daughter(Congress MLA Sowmya Reddy), she is an independent woman. I am not going to blame anyone in the party or the high command. I somewhere feel I was being neglected over some issues. That is why I have taken this decision.”
Currently, the Chief Minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy is in the United States and will touch base on July 8. Until then, it is the responsibility of the Deputy CM G Parameshwara to look into the matter.
That is why along with State Minister DK Shivakumar he called for an emergency meeting of all the Congress Corporators and Bengaluru MLAs. The Deputy CM said, ”Nobody will resign, I had come to meet them (rebel MLAs).”
Last week, two MLAs from Congress, Anand Singh, and Ramesh Jarkiholi submitted resignation to the assembly speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar. In his hand-written resignation letter, Jarkiholi complained that his party ignored his seniority by dropping him from the cabinet in 2018. He added, “I have resigned as Gokak legislator for being ignored by the party and the coalition government.”
The speaker said the MLA’s need to follow a particular procedure to resign. He further added, “They have to take an appointment with me. I am not sitting in a market place and blackmail tactics of spreading rumors to resign will not work.”
Resignations Coming At Wrong Time
Another MLA, Anand Singh who resigned is a former member of BJP and joined Congress just ahead of the assembly elections in 2018. According to him, he has decided to quit over his demands of creating a separate Vijayanagar district and canceling the approval for selling of 3,667 acres of land to JSW steel in Ballari district known for mining.
With the already dismal performance in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, the Congress- JD (S) alliance is going through a bad patch. The mass resignations pouring at such a time is an indication that slowly the differences within the party and coalition are surfacing.
Even the former PM of India and the boss of Janata Dal-Secular, HD Deve Gowda stated last month that Karnataka is heading towards mid-terms polls as he is not quite sure how long the coalition government will last.
Deve Gowda claimed, “They said they will support us for five years, but look at their behavior now. Our people are smart. There is no doubt that it (mid-term polls) will be held.”
