The Week India – July 21, 2019

36 THE WEEK • JULY 21, 2019

POLITICS

KARNATAKA

KARNATAKA IS ONCE again staring at

a constitutional crisis, as the Janata Dal

(Secular)-Congress coalition govern-

ment is on the brink, following a spate

of resignations by rebel MLAs. With two

independent MLAs withdrawing support

and 16 rebel MLAs—13 from the Con-

gress and three from the JD(S)—resign-

ing, the H.D. Kumaraswamy government

has been reduced to a minority.

While the sinking coalition is blaming

the opposition BJP for the political coup,

the leadership crisis in the Congress,

constant friction between the coalition

partners and the dominance of the Deve

Gowda family in governance, too, have

been factors that triggered the rebellion.

The overall strength of the 224-mem-

ber Karnataka Assembly has been re-

duced to 208 following the resignations.

Relentless

rebellion

It is advantage BJP as rebel MLAs stick to

their resignations, citing leadership crisis

in the Congress and constant friction

within the ruling coalition

BY PRATHIMA NANDAKUMAR

VISHNU V. NAIR