Frontline – August 02, 2019

CHIEFMINISTERH.D. Kumaraswamy(left) and Leaderof the OppositionB.S. Yeddyurappain the Assemblyon July 12.

BYRATHIBASAVARAJ,MLA,rushing to the Speaker’schamberon July 11

to submithis resignationbefore the 6 p.m. deadlineset by the Supreme Court.

SAMPA

TH

KUMAR

G.P.

SHAI

LENDRA

BHOJAK/

PTI

V.

SREENIVAS

A MURTHY

desperatelunge for powerjusta year
ago,is waitingto strike again.
Even as Karnataka lurches
througha debilitatingdrought,legis-
latorsfromall the threepolitical
parties,including the BJP,the single
largestpartyin the Assembly, remain
protectively ensconcedin luxuryre-
sorts and hotels following Ku-
maraswamy’s surprise
announcementthathe would seeka
voteof confidence.
TheBJPhasbeenpatientlyen-
gineeringdesertions sinceMarch,
whenit luredUmeshJadhav, the
Memberof the LegislativeAssembly
(MLA)representingChincholi,from
the Congress andrewardedhimwith
thepartyticketfor theKalaburagi
LokSabha seat, wherehe defeated
CongressleaderMallikarjun Kharge.
The bait was sweetened further
whenthe BJPnominated his sonfor
the ChincholiAssembly seat.

CURRENT CRISIS
Thecurrent crisis wassparked off by
the resignationsof VijayanagarMLA
Anand Singh and Gokak MLA
RameshJarkiholi, both of whom
neverconcealed theirdissent within
the Congress.It becamea full-blown
crisison July6 when10 legislators,
includingmembersof boththe Con-
gressandthe JD(S),submitted their
resignations to Speaker K.R.

RameshKumar, wholatersaid the

resignations werenot in “proper

order”.

Highdramafollowed,withthe

MLAsleavingfor Mumbai soonafter

submitting theirresignations.The

factthatKumaraswamywasawayin

theUnited Stateson a privatevisit

seemedto providean ideal oppor-

tunityfor themachinationsagainst

thegovernment. TheCongressflew

its chieftroubleshooter, D.K. Shivak-

umar,to persuadetherebelsto re-

consider, buthe failed to gainentry

to the hotelwheretheywerestaying.

In thedaysthatfollowed,the

numberof resignations swelledto 16,

including twoindependentMLAs

whowerebothMinisters.TheKu-

maraswamygovernment,whichef-

fectively hada combinedsupport of

115 legislators—78fromtheCon-

gressand37 fromtheJD(S)—also

enjoyedthe supportof the twoinde-

pendents. Besides,it continuesto

havethe supportof the loneBahujan

SamajParty(BSP)member.

Despitebeingthesinglelargest

partyby somedistancewith 105 le-

gislators,theBJPhasbeenin the

oppositionin the225-memberAs-

sembly,which includesonenomin-

atedmemberfromthe Anglo-Indian

communitywhohasno voteanda

seatthatis currentlyvacant.

Meanwhile,the dramashiftedto