Karnataka: Congress-coalition government on the verge of collapse with 11 new resignations

Bangalore : In a brewing trouble for Congress, their coalition government in Karnataka is on a verge of collapse with 11 new resignations of the MLAs.

Among those who tendered their resignations from the Congress camp include Ramalinga Reddy (BTM Layout), BC Patil (Hirekerur), Pratapgouda Patil (Maski), Shivaram Hebbar (Yellapur), Mahesh Kumathalli (Athani), ST Somashekhar (Yeshwanthpur), Byrati Basavaraj (KR Puram), and Soumya Reddy (Jayanagar). From the JD(S) side, H Vishwanath (Hunsur), Narayan Gowda (Krishnarajpet), and K Gopalaiah (Mahalakshmi Layout).

Ever since, the Bharatiya Janata Party won Lok Sabha Election 2019, a series of resignations has been seen in Karnataka. In the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP bagged 25 seats and an Independent supported by it won from Mandya.

Amid crisis situation in Karnataka Assembly, the BJP is keeping a close eye as the coalition’s strength in the 224-member Assembly stands at 118 (Congress-78, JD(S)-37, BSP-1 and Independents-2), besides the Speaker. The tally also includes MLAs who have resigned, as technically their resignations are yet to be accepted by the Speaker. Whereas, the principal opposition BJP has 105 MLAs in the House, where the halfway mark is 113.