Several lawmakers from the Karnataka coalition government reached the office of the state assembly speaker. Eight Congress lawmakers and three from the Janata Dal Secular or JDS have submitted their resignations to the speaker, in a move that could spell trouble for the coalition.
The coalition government’s numbers will fall to 105 in the assembly where the majority mark is 116.
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Karnataka Congress minister DK Shivakumar however said that none of the lawmakers will resign. “I had come to meet the MLAs,” he said after meeting the Congress and JDS legislators at the Speaker’s office. Mr Shivakumar is a trouble shooter for the Congress.
“I have come to submit my resignation to speaker. I don’t know about my daughter (Congress MLA Sowmya Reddy), she is an independent woman,” Congress legislator Ramalinga Reddy told news agency ANI. “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,” he added.
KARNATAKA COALITION CRISIS LIVE UPDATES:
05:02 pm: H Vishwanath: In Congress-JD (S) coalition government in Karnataka, 14 MLAs have resigned against the Government till now, We also met the Governor. We wrote to speaker to accept our resignation. Coalition Government did not meet the expectations of the people of
H Vishwanath, JD(S): We have submitted resignation to the Karnataka Assembly Speaker. He assured us he will take a decision by Tuesday. This government did not take everyone into confidence in its functioning. That’s why we’ve resigned voluntarily today https://t.co/C9dIyq1EzJ
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) July 6, 2019
4:15 pm
B. S. Yeddyurappa, BJP: People are watching the way DK Shivakumar is behaving. He tore resignation letters of some of the MLAs inside the Speaker’s office, who had went to resign, it is condemnable
#Karnataka@BSYBJP pic.twitter.com/4QDxvCpro1— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) July 6, 2019
04:01 pm: Somashekar, Basavaraj, and Shivaram are three of the four MLAs who have demanded that Siddaramaiah be made the chief minister. The fourth MLA, Muniratna, has not resigned but has made similar demands.
03:58 pm: At least four out of 11 MLAs have told the high command and coalition leaders that they would take back their resignations if Congress leader Siddaramaiah is made the chief minister of Karnataka. KC Venugopal will meet Siddaramaiah at 6 pm on Saturday.
03:50 pm: Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy is not in the country. He is expected to return to Bengaluru from the US tomorrow.
03:48 pm: DV Sadananda Gowda, BJP on Karnataka Congress-JDS MLAs submitting resignation to Speaker: They thought it’s high time to come out of that party and resigned from legislator’s post as they felt that continuing as MLAs was not good in the larger interest of their constituency and state.
DV Sadananda Gowda, BJP on 11 Karnataka Congress-JDS MLAs submitting resignation to Speaker: They thought it’s high time to come out of that party&resigned from legislators post as they felt that continuing as MLAs was not good in the larger interest of their constituency & state pic.twitter.com/Q6f6gYe8wy
— ANI (@ANI) July 6, 2019
03:46 pm: Somashekar, Basavaraj, Shivaram and Muniratna are the four MLAs who have demanded Siddaramaiah to be made CM. Muniratna has not resigned.
03:42 pm: KC Venugopal will be meeting Siddaramaiah at 6 pm. Siddaramaiah reached his residence Cauvery in Bengaluru.
Karnataka Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah reaches his residence Cauvery in Bengaluru. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/EbPDKxlvsa
— ANI (@ANI) July 6, 2019
03:34 pm: 4 MLAs out of 11 who have resigned have told the high command and coalition leaders if Siddaramaiah is made the CM , they’d take back the resignation.
03: 31 pm: I’ll be focusing on municipal corporation elections, and will be holding a meeting with H K Kumaraswamy I don’t know the names of the MLAs but I have heard about their resignations on the news: Deve Gowda
03:30 pm: DK Shivakumar brings Ramalinga Reddy, Basavaraj, somashekar to his residence.
03:28 pm: Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar: 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.
03:34 pm: 4 MLAs out of 11 who have resigned have told the high command and coalition leaders if Siddaramaiah is made the CM , they’d take back the resignation.
03: 31 pm: I’ll be focusing on municipal corporation elections, and will be holding a meeting with H K Kumaraswamy I don’t know the names of the MLAs but I have heard about their resignations on the news: Deve Gowda
03:30 pm: DK Shivakumar brings Ramalinga Reddy, Basavaraj, somashekar to his residence.
03:28 pm: Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar: 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.
Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar: 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. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/k4WQ2t0Wev
— ANI (@ANI) July 6, 2019
02: 27 pm: Congress MLA BC Patil said, “Injustice has been done with my constituency and with the people of North Karnataka.”
02:15 pm: If MLAs don’t change their decision, Congress might move SC. During the government formation, individual MLAs had given an affidavit to SC saying their support is for the Congress and JDS party.
01: 55 pm: Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy will be landing tomorrow at Bengaluru airport.
01:38 pm: BJP leader GVL Narasimha Rao said, “People of Karnataka are sick of this political coalition. We have been noticing the developments. They finally realised the chaos that had been created in the state. Not just BJP but even people of Karnataka will heave a sigh of relief. For the BJP, we have been looking at what has been going on for quite sometime now.”
GVL Narasimha Rao, BJP MP: Congress-JD(S) coalition has been rejected by people of Karnataka. Despite their coalition in Lok Sabha polls, BJP won a massive mandate. It clearly shows the mood of people. MLAs certainly seem to be facing brunt of public anger against coalition. pic.twitter.com/3ygVtW4PkX
— ANI (@ANI) July 6, 2019
01:27 pm: BJP’s S Prakash said JDS and Congress have failed to keep their flock together. Had they done so, this situation wouldn’t have arrived.
01:20 pm: Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and State minister DK Shivakumar have called an emergency meeting of Congress Bengaluru MLAs and corporators later today at 5 pm.
Karnataka State minister D. K. Shivakumar: Nobody will resign, I had come to meet them(8 Congress& 3 JDS MLAs who had reached Assembly speaker office) pic.twitter.com/cwGVK895jx
— ANI (@ANI) July 6, 2019
01:15 pm: Reddy said, “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.”
Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy: I have come to submit my resignation to speaker. I don’t know about my daughter(Congress MLA Sowmya Reddy), she is an independent woman. #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/1IvqviMfeS
— ANI (@ANI) July 6, 2019
01:00 pm: Four more Congress MLAs have reached Vidhana Soudha that includes ex-minister Ramalinga Reddy. He said he doesn’t know about others, he speaks for himself.