Karnataka minister and Congress troubleshooter DK Shivakumar is attempting to pacify Bengaluru rebel MLAs as the crisis in state politics intensifies. Though there is no clarity on the location of all the MLAs who had left for Mumbai over the weekend, DK Shivakumar has been in touch with quite a few.
Sources close to DK Shivakumar say that they are trying to convince the four Bengaluru MLAs to take back their resignations. This includes Ramalinga Reddy (BTM Layout), ST Somashekar (Yeshwanthpur), Byarathu Basavaraj (KR Puram), and Munirathna (Rajarajeshwarinagar).
On Sunday, the rebel MLAs left in a bus from the Sofitel Hotel where they had been staying in Mumbai. While some reports suggested they were taken to Goa, others said they had gone to Pune. The location of the MLAs is not immediately clear. Four of them are reportedly in Renaissance Hotel in Mumbai.
The crisis began after 13 MLAs - 10 Congress and 3 JD(S) - with the coalition submitted their resignations last Saturday. The disgruntled legislators met with the Governor and informed him of their decision to resign. The MLAs were flown out to Sofitel Hotel in Mumbai. On July 8, Independent MLA H Nagesh withdrew support from the coalition and KPJP MLA R Shankar also withdrew support. Earlier this month, MLA Anand Singh had also resigned. The strength of the Assembly is 224 including Speaker. With the 13 MLAs resigning, the quorum has reduced to 211. With this spate of resignations, the Congress-JD(S) coalition has 104 MLAs while the BJP has 107 MLAs on its side. The coalition does not have the majority to rule the government if the speaker accepts the resignation of the MLAs.