Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy returned to the city on Sunday night from a week-long private visit to the US and held parleys with the ruling Janata Dal (Secular) leaders on the party's three MLAs resigning along with nine Congress rebels on Saturday, a party official said.
The resignations have created a crisis of survival for the state's Congress-Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) coalition government.
"Kumaraswamy returned from the US to New Delhi in the evening by an Air India flight and flew to Bengaluru in a chartered aircraft with two other JD-S Cabinet ministers," party spokesman Ramesh Babu told IANS here.
The chief minister then drove to a hotel in the city and discussed the crisis arising out of the rebels' resignation with party supremo and his father H D Deve Gowda and other leaders, including state PWD Minister and his elder brother H D Revenna.
On Monday, Kumaraswamy will hold talks with Congress leaders, including its state in-charge K C Venugopal, legislature party leader Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and state unit president Dinesh Gundu Rao to resolve the crisis threatening the year-old coalition government.
Though Deve Gowda advised Kumaraswamy to wait for Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar's decision on the resignations, others want him to call the party rebels back from Mumbai and ask them to withdraw their resignations before the speaker acts on them.
The ruling coalition, which has a strength of 118 in the 224-member assembly, faces the risk of losing its majority if the resignations are accepted.
"Our three rebel legislators (A H Vishwanath, Gopalaiah and Narayana Gowda) did not tell our leaders what were their concerns or demands all these months. Suddenly, they joined the Congress rebels and resigned without informing even Deve Gowda" said Babu.
JD(S) Ministers G T Deve Gowda, C S Puttaraju and Sa Ra Mahesh have offered to resign so that the party's three rebels can be pacified and inducted in a Cabinet reshuffle.
"Kumaraswamy will discuss with the Congress leaders if it will also induct some of its rebels in the 34-member Cabinet ministry by dropping an equal number of its ministers," Babu added.
Meeting on Tuesday
On Sunday, leaders from both parties went into a huddle to discuss the next course of action to save the government.
This comes even as opposition BJP said it is keeping a watch on the ongoing developments and indicated that the party was looking at options to form the government.
Rocked by the resignations of 10 of its MLAs, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah has convened a meeting Tuesday to discuss the ongoing political developments and the assembly session, starting from July 12.
In an intimation to Congress MLAs, he has warned that their absence would be viewed seriously.
The meeting gains significance amid reports that more legislators are likely to resign in the next couple of days.
Congress leaders, including AICC general secretary K C Venugopal who has camped here, have been holding a series of meetings on Sunday and strategising the plan of action in a last ditch effort to save the government.
They are also trying to reach out to party MLAs who have resigned and trying to pacify them, sources said, adding that attempts are also being made to contact those whom they suspect are "vulnerable" and may resign.
Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, Minister D K Shivakumar and KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre are part of the meetings.
Speaking to reporters, Shivakumar said meetings are going on and "we are trying to find a medicine and solution" to the current crisis.
"I hope that everything will be resolved soon and am ready for any sacrifices to save the government and party."
Khandre said attempts are on to pacify MLAs and solve the issues that they have.
We are trying to reach out to MLAs directly...there are some minor differences, which are normal. The leadership is trying to sort out them. Everything will be all right, wait and watch," he said.
The Congress' high command is said to have questioned state unit leaders about how they had allowed such a large number of them to resign, party sources said.
They also specifically asked about the resignations of Byrati Basavaraj (K R Puram), S T Somashekar (Yashwanthpur) and Munirathna (Rajarajeshwaringar), considered close to Siddaramaiah.
Shivakumar, considered the Congress troubleshooter, met Gowda at his home earlier in the day and discussed the ongoing developments.
Camping in Mumbai
Ten of the MLAs are now camping at a hotel in Mumbai.
Congress has alleged that BJP was facilitating their stay there in a bid to destabilize the government in Karnataka.
The Maharashtra BJP claimed Sunday it was not aware of the presence of the MLAs in Mumbai, even as a saffron party leader was spotted at a hotel where the legislators are put up.
In Karnataka, Congress sources said a final shape to the party's plan of action was likely to be finalized once they meet the chief minister, including a cabinet reshuffle to make way for disgruntled MLAs by asking some loyalists of both parties to resign from the ministry.
Amid reports of talks about a change of guard as an option to save the government by making veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge the chief minister, Kharge himself ruled it out, saying "false" and "flimsy" information was being spread through the media to divide the party.
"I dont know about it. I want this alliance government to continue and go smoothly," he said, adding he would also talk to the MLAs to withdraw their resignations.
He charged the BJP with trying to destabilize the "non BJP" elected governments across the country.
Stating that attempts are on pacify the MLAs, Siddaramaiah alleged that BJP was behind all these, using power and money as allurements to lure the disgruntled MLAs.
However, seven time Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy, who has resigned, said both Kumaraswamy and Venugopal spoke to him and he told them of the circumstances leading to his resignation.
"I was kind of pushed (by circumstances in the party) to resign...I have resigned as MLA, but not from Congress," he told reporters here.
BJP state unit chief B S Yeddyurappa said the party was watching the political developments and that those in the party are not "sanyasis" to rule out the possibility of forming the government.
Ruling out the possibility of any mid-term polls, he said "it has been just 13 months after the assembly election. We will not allow election to happen.
"Let them (Congress-JDS) give good administration. If they can't, we are there with 105 MLAs strength...we will not meet the Governor or go to Delhi... we are watching developments."
BJP has 105 MLAs in the House, where the half-way mark is 113.
If the resignations are accepted,the coalition's tally will reduce to 105. The speaker also has a vote.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS)
