New Delhi: The problems faced by the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government are snowballing in Karnataka. A day after the Congress issued a whip to its 80 legislators to mandatorily attend the assembly sessions, seven MLAs of the grand old party remained absent on the first day of the budget session on February 6.
JD(S) legislator Narayana Gowda also stayed away from the assembly proceedings. Three BJP MLAs, including G. Karunakara Reddy, who is reportedly ready to switch over to the other side, were also reportedly absent.
The absentee Congress MLAs included political heavyweight from Belgaum Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumathalli, B. Nagendra, Umesh Jadhav, J.N. Ganesh – who had assaulted MLA Anand Singh at a resort last month – B.C. Patil and K. Sudhakar.
Four of these MLAs are reportedly holed up in Mumbai.
Also read: Karnataka MLA J.N. Ganesh Suspended by Congress for Assaulting Colleague
Over the last two months, the state government has been battling rebellion within its own ranks. It was understood that some of the Congress MLAs wanted ministerial berths but the party had refused to accommodate them.
However, the absence of Gowda in the assembly on February 3 points towards resentment in the JD(S) ranks also. The BJP too would be worried about its three missing MLAs.
The state government until now has accused the BJP of attempting to engineer defections in what it called “Operation Lotus” by the saffron party.
The absence of eight ruling coalition MLAs in the assembly fuelled such speculations further.
Last month, two independent MLAs, hoping to become ministers, withdrew their support from the government too. Four Congress MLAs skipped a party’s meet subsequently, causing an alarm in the party.
The party leadership had then taken its MLAs to a resort near Bengaluru to prevent any further defections.
As such political chaos broke in Karnataka in January, the BJP too had moved their legislators to a resort near Delhi.
On the first day of the budget session, the BJP claimed that the state government had lost its majority and demanded chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s resignation. However, the both the Congress and JD(S) leadership said that the missing MLAs are expected to show up soon in next few days. Congress’s state president Dinesh Gundu Rao expressed confidence that the government has the majority numbers in the assembly.
Also read: Try As it May, BJP Doesn’t Have the Numbers to Topple Karnataka’s Congress-JD(S) Alliance
However, sources said that party may suspend at least two MLAs if they fail to attend the next legislature party meeting.
In the 224-member assembly, the Congress-JD(S) coalition has 117 MLAs excluding the speaker. BJP has 104 legislators.
The immediate concern for the state government is to get the finance bill passed. The BJP did not say whether it would move a no-confidence motion or not but disrupted the governor Vajubhai Vala’s customary speech. Vala was then forced to finish his speech in less than ten minutes.
Political observers said that if a minimum of 12 legislators stay away from the house, the government would not be able to pass the finance bill. But for that to happen in this cat-and-mouse game, the BJP, too, will have to guard its house closely.