Relentless Rebellion

It is advantage BJP as rebel MLAs stick to their resignations, citing leadership crisis in the Congress and constant friction within the ruling coalition

- Prathima Nandakumar

KARNATAKA IS ONCE again staring at a constitutional crisis, as the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government is on the brink, following a spate of resignations by rebel MLAs. With two independent MLAs withdrawing support and 16 rebel MLAs—13 from the Congress and three from the JD(S)—resigning, the H.D. Kumaraswamy government has been reduced to a minority.

While the sinking coalition is blaming the opposition BJP for the political coup, the leadership crisis in the Congress, constant friction between the coalition partners and the dominance of the Deve Gowda family in governance, too, have been factors that triggered the rebellion.

The overall strength of the 224-member Karnataka Assembly has been reduced to 208 following the resignations.

The BJP has 107 seats, while the ruling combine has come down to 101. The coalition leadership is desperately trying to woo back the rebels, who have moved out to a Mumbai hotel. None of the senior Congress leaders, including the party’s famous troubleshooter D.K. Shivakumar, have so far managed to mollify them, although Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar’s decision to “examine” each resignation individually has given a breather to the distraught coalition.

The spate of resignations started with the Congress MLA from Vijayanagar, Anand Singh, quitting on July 1, followed by Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi. Other Congress MLAs to resign were Pratap Gowda Patil, B.C. Patil, Mahesh Kumathalli, Shivaram Hebbar, Ramalinga Reddy, S.T. Somashekhar, Byrathi Basavraj, Munirathna, Roshan Baig, K. Sudhakar and M.T.B. Nagaraj. Three JD(S) MLAs—Narayan Gowda, K. Gopalaiah and H. Vishwanath —have put in their papers.