Karnataka crisis: 5 Congress, 3 JD-MLAs set to resign

Bengaluru, July 6 (IANS) In a potential crisis for the Congress-JDS government in Karnataka, eight MLAs from the ruling coalition went to meet the Speaker of the state Assembly on Saturday, suggesting that they could resign.

Out of the eight legislators, five are from the Congress and three from Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), according to sources.

The Speaker K.R.Ramesh Kumar, however, was not in office and the MLAs were waiting for him, sources said.

One of the Congress MLAs Ramalinga Reddy told reporters here that he was waiting for the Speaker to submit his resignation.

"I have decided to resign from the Congress, with which I have been associated for over four decades, as there is no respect or value for senior leaders in the party," Reddy told reporters outside Vidhana Soudha in the city centre.

Reddy represents the BTM Layout Assembly segment in the city's southwest suburb.

The other four Congress MLAs waiting for the Speaker are Ramesh Jarkiholi, B.C. Patil, Shivram Hebbar and Mahesh Kumathahalli.

The JD-S legislators at the Speaker's office are its former state president A.H. Vishwanath, Gopalaiah and M. Narayana Gowda.

D.K. Sivakumar, senior Congress leader and the party's trouble-shooter, also reached the Assembly saying that there would be no problem for the government as he was going to speak to the legislators.

"They are my friends, they will not resign," he said.

In the 225-member Assembly, the Congress-JDS led combine has 117 members, just three more than the required majority of 114. The Opposition BJP has 105 MLAs.

If the eight MLAs of the ruling coalition resign, it will become a minority government.

Though Congress legislator Anand Singh from Vijayanagara Assembly segment submitted his resignation letter to the Speaker on July 1, it has not been accepted till date.