Friday is expected to be a busy day with respect to the political crisis in Karnataka, which began nearly a week ago after a number of MLAs of the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition submitted their resignations.
Karnataka Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar is required to inform the Supreme Court on Friday his decision about accepting the resignations of 14 MLAs who resigned in the past week. The Monsoon Session of the Karnataka Assembly will commence on Friday.
On Thursday, 10 of the rebel Congress and JD(S) MLAs appeared in person to Kumar and submitted their resignations following a direction from the Supreme Court. Kumar had told mediapersons he can't be expected to work at “lightning speed” to assess the resignations. Kumar said the resignation letters of the MLAs were in the “right format”, but he would examine them to ascertain whether they were “voluntary and genuine”.
On Wednesday, two more Congress MLAs announced their resignations, taking the total number of MLAs who left the ruling coalition to 16. Two independent legislators who had supported the H.D. Kumaraswamy government had earlier in the week switched support to the BJP. If the resignations of the 16 MLAs are accepted, the number of legislators supporting the Kumaraswamy government would fall from 119 to 101, four seats less than the BJP.
Monsoon Session
The Monsoon Session is scheduled to continue for 11 days. In addition to the political crisis, the BJP is expected to attack the Kumaraswamy government on a number of issues including the allocation of land for a JSW Steel project in Ballari, the IMA Ponzi scam and drought management.
Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Thursday night tweeted the “Congress-JD(S) coalition in the state is going strong despite the efforts to destabilise. We are confident and prepared for a smooth and fruitful conduct of legislative sessions.” The state cabinet met on Thursday and declared it would face the political situation “bravely” and withstand it in a united manner.
Rebels return to Mumbai
As many as 14 MLAs of the JD(S) and Congress who had left for Mumbai after submitting their resignations returned to the country's financial capital on Thursday after appearing before the speaker.
The MLAs returned to the Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel in Powai where they had been staying. A local BJP leader said the Karnataka MLAs “would be staying there for another two days”.