Amid the uncertainty prevailing over the fate of HD Kumaraswamy Government in Karnataka, both the ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance and Opposition BJP have convened a meeting of party MLAs on Thursday. While the Congress will meet its legislators in Bengaluru, the BJP has convened a meeting of party MLAs in Gurugram.
The Congress has strength of 80 MLAs, including Speaker, while Janata Dal (S) has 37 legislators in its fold. The lone BSP member is also supporting the alliance Government. The BJP has 104 seats in the 224-member Assembly. The other two are Independents who have withdrawn support from the Kumaraswamy Government.
While the Congress asserted that the Congress-JD(S) alliance Government is "stable and strong", the BJP termed such an "unnatural" alliance was responsible for the ongoing political turmoil. Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP of trying to destabilise it.
BJP sources said all the 104 BJP MLAs, who have been in New Delhi to attend the party's national council meeting and then extended their stay, would remain confined in the resort.
The party's Karnataka unit chief B S Yeddyurappa is likely to hold a meeting with the party MLAs who are camping at the resort and discuss the prevailing situation in the State. They said the BJP legislators will stay put in Gurugram till the party top leaders give the green signal to return to Karnataka.
The Congress too has convened a meeting of its flock and AICC sources said a few Ministers from the party have even offered to step down in the larger interest and to accommodate the rebels. The Central party leadership is considering this option. Congress general secretary K C Venugopal asserted that none of his party legislators were going to quit.
"It would be a big slap on the face of the BJP as it is going to fail in its endeavour to bring the Government down. Their shameless motive to destabilise the Government is going to be a big failure. It will be a national shame for them," he said.
On five Congress MLAs, who are in Mumbai allegedly under the BJP's control, Kumaraswamy said, "I have been saying for the past three days that they are in touch with me, I'm in the know of all the developments. They may not be reachable to others, but they are reachable to me," he said in response to a question whether the five MLAs were accessible.
State Minister B Z Zameer Ahmad Khan, considered a "trouble shooter" for the Congress, said Kumaraswamy-led Government faced no threat and Yeddyurappa was "daydreaming" about becoming Chief Minister once again. He on his part claimed seven to eight BJP MLAs were in touch with them.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and CLP leader Siddaramaiah met Venugopal and held discussions. The Congress has convened a meeting of its MLAs here on Thursday to take stock of the ongoing political developments.
The coalition Government suffered the first major setback when two MLAs, an Independent and a member of the Karnataka Pragnyavantara Janata Paksha, withdrew support to the Government on Tuesday. There was no immediate threat to the Government with the withdrawal of support but speculation was rife that many other disgruntled Congress MLAs could follow suit by resigning from the Assembly, though the party has maintained that its flock is intact.
The grand old party also alleged that the BJP has a bigger plan behind its moves "to topple" the coalition Government in the State as it wants to show that any grand alliance against it at the Centre will meet the same fate. Meanwhile MLAs who went "missing" from both the parties— Congress and BJP— kept making news throughout the days.