Karnataka Crisis: No stranger to flip-flop, how H Nagesh is treading an 'independent' path

Amid growing infighting in the political scenario of Karnataka, state minister and Independent MLA H Nagesh on Monday resigned and withdrew support to the HD Kumaraswamy-led government, delivering another blow to the shaky JD(S)-Congress coalition. On June 14, Nagesh, along with R Shankar was inducted into the coalition government in an apparent move to give stability to Kumaraswamy’s 13-month-old wobbly government in the southern state.

However, the Cabinet expansion by Kumaraswamy could not stop Nagesh from jumping the ship and the MLA has already offered his support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), furthering the risk for the Karnataka government, which is on the verge of collapse.

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What happened so far?

• Nagesh, a former Congress member, contested and won as an Independent after not getting a party ticket in the 2018 assembly polls. He represents the Mulbagal Assembly seat in Karnataka.
• In December last year, in a similar move, the lawmaker sided with the BJP and wrote to the governor withdrawing support to the government for not being inducted into the ministry during the cabinet rejig at that time.
• Speaking to the media, the legislator also alleged that the Congress had held him hostage after the assembly elections and kept at an undisclosed hotel in Mumbai. Nagesh also said that the Congress gave no respect to them and there was no understanding between the coalition partners. He also rubbished the party's allegations that the BJP was trying to poach its MLAs to topple the Karnataka government.

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• Post that Nagesh sent his resignation to the Governor on e-mail and conveyed his decision to withdraw support extended to the Congress-JD-S government with immediate effect.
• However, Nagesh and other rebel MLAs retracted their steps to get back in the ruling alliance, as the BJP failed in its alleged attempts to topple the coalition and form the government in Karnataka.
• During the latest Cabinet expansion, Nagesh was given the portfolio of small scale industries minister in the Kumaraswamy government.