The JD(S) top brass on Thursday night went into damage control mode as they rejected media reports claiming a tie up between the BJP and the party amidst the current political crisis.
Late on Thursday evening after Karnataka Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar addressed the media, a section of media claimed that the BJP was offering to form the government with JD(S). The media reports were based on a meeting between JD(S)’s Sa Ra Mahesh who is the Tourism Minister, with BJP Karnataka-in-charge Muralidhar Rao and senior MLA KS Eshwarappa.
Commenting on this, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy tweeted, “It is unnecessary to give importance to Tourism Minister Sa. Ra. Mahesh's casual meeting with BJP leaders at the new building of KK guest house, managed by KSTDC which comes under his portfolio..”
He added, “Congress -JDS coalition in the state is going strong despite the efforts to destabilize. We are confident and prepared for a smooth and fruitful conduct of legislative sessions.”
Congress -JDS coalition in the state is going strong despite the efforts to destabilize. We are confident and prepared for a smooth and fruitful conduct of legislative sessions.
— H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) July 11, 2019
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Congress -JDS coalition in the state is going strong despite the efforts to destabilize. We are confident and prepared for a smooth and fruitful conduct of legislative sessions.
— H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) July 11, 2019
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Even the Twitter handle of the JD(S) said, “It is natural for lawmakers and ministers to go to the Kumarakripa Guest House. On this occasion, Mahesh had accidentally met Eshwarappa and Muralidhara Rao on the way. It does not mean any special meaning. The JDS-Congress alliance is strong and will continue to have effective governance.”
According to JD(S) insiders, this was a BJP ploy to further weaken the ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance which has recently suffered a slew of resignations.
Meanwhile, addressing the press, Speaker Ramesh Kumar said that he needs time to examine the resignation letters submitted by 10 rebel MLAs to ascertain if they are genuine, giving the government some breathing time.
On the other hand, the BJP had said that they won’t force a trust vote just yet as the Monsoon Session of the state Assembly will convene on Friday.
When it comes to numbers, the Kumaraswamy government is surviving due to the technicality cited by Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar to not decide on the resignation of the 15 rebel MLAs. The strength of the Assembly is 224 including Speaker. With the resignation of 15 MLAs, the quorum will reduce to 211. Following the spate of resignations, the Congress-JD(S) coalition has 101 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 resignations. On the other hand, the Supreme Court will continue to hear the plea filed by the 10 rebel MLAs who alleged that the Speaker was dilly-dallying their resignation and was not acting in an unbiased manner.