BJP trying to destabilise Congress-JDS government in Karnataka, alleges Mallikarjun Kharge

Amid reports that seven Congress MLAs, holed up in a luxury hotel in Mumbai, may resign from the ruling coalition government in the Karnataka, senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that there was no crisis for the government in the state. However, he alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to destabilise the government. “The Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka is stable and strong and will continue to be so. The BJP is trying to destabilise the government,” the leader of Congress party in Lok Sabha said.   

Two lawmakers on Tuesday withdrew support to the seven-month-old government led by HD Kumaraswamy amid charges of horse-trading levelled against each other by the ruling coalition and the BJP. The lawmakers who have withdrawn their support are H Nagesh (Independent) and R Shankar (Karnataka Pragnyavanta Janata Paksha).

The Congress suspects that some of its lawmakers have been secretly in the Powai-based hotel by BJP leaders. Many journalists and Congress workers were seen in the vicinity of the hotel, searching for the "missing" Congress MLAs on Tuesday.

To discuss all this development and decide a future course of action, a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting has been called on January 18 in Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, the BJP's Karnataka MLAs have been camping at a resort in Haryana in an ‘effort to thwart any poaching attempt’ by the ruling JDS-Congress coalition.

"The entire confusion has been created by the BJP. Was that really required? They did it brazenly throwing morality and ethics to the wind. It is shameful and disgusting," Karnataka Congress President Dinesh Gundu Rao said.

In the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, the BJP has 104 members, Congress 80 (including Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar), Kumaraswamy’s JD (S) has 37, BSP, KPJP and Independent one each. BSP is supporting the coalition government. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Kharge alleged that the BJP is trying to destabilise Karnataka government.
• A Congress Legislature Party meeting has been called on January 18.
• BJP's Karnataka MLAs have been camping at a resort in Haryana.