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Karnataka Crisis: Survival Of Congress-JD(S) Govt At Risk As MLAs Resign

Between 11 and 14 MLAs have submitted their resignations to the assembly speaker, putting the coalition government's survival at risk, reports say.
Former CM of Karnataka Siddaramaiah (left) with present Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy in a file photo.
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Former CM of Karnataka Siddaramaiah (left) with present Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy in a file photo.

NEW DELHI—Between 11 and 14 Members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly belonging to the ruling Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance have tendered their resignations to the speaker’s office in his absence, media reports say. This action may put the ruling state government’s existence into jeopardy as it will lose its majority in the assembly, creating an opportunity for the Bharatiya Janata Party to stake a claim yet again to form the government.

Eight congress and three Janata Dal (Secular) legislators submitted their resignations to the office of the Karnataka Assembly Speaker in his absence, this NDTV report said.

This report said as many as 13 MLAs may have resigned.

If the resignations of the 11 MLAs are accepted, the Karnataka government’s numbers will fall down to 105 in an Assembly with a majority mark of 116, the NDTV report noted. It also cited a quote given by the assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar to ANI in which the latter is heard saying, “I was supposed to pick up my daughter that is why I went home, I have told my office to take resignations and give acknowledgement that 11 members resigned. Tomorrow is leave so I will see them on Monday”.

This India Today report said, four of the 11 MLAs have said they will take back their resignations if Siddaramaiah is made Chief Minister. The report further stated, citing sources, that the Congress party’s troubleshooter DK Shivakumar has failed to convince the MLAs to withdraw their resignations. DK Shivakumar and some other party leaders will talk to Congress party’s national General Secretary KC Venugopal today evening to find a resolution to the problem.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has 106 MLAs in the state, making it the largest party and which will now have a strong possibility of forming the next government in the state as a consequence of the resignations.

This is an evolving story and will be updated.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.