Karnataka Speaker's breather to Congress-JDS alliance, says 8 resignations 'not in order'

In what can be called as breather for troubled Congress-JDS alliance, Karnataka Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar today said that “out of 13 resignations (by the MLAs), 8 are not in order.” He added that, “Five other rebels have proper resignations and I have given time to them to present themselves before me.” Out of 13, 8 are not according to the prescribed rules under rule 202 under Karnataka legislature procedure, Kumar said. He added that, “If they (MLAs) are intent on reiterating their stance, they should do according to proper rules.” Anand Singh, Ramalinga Reddy, Narayan Gowda, Pratap Goud Patil and Gopaliah have given resignation in proper format, Kumar said.

Kumar has given time to the five rebel MLAs to meet him and present their case. “For remaining 5, I'm giving them two-day time. I'm calling three of them on July 12 to meet me personally. I have called two others on 15th July.” Recalling the sequence of events on Saturday, Kumar said that, “On July 6th, I was in office till 12.30pm, none of the legislators sought appointment from me.”

The coalition has 118 MLAs in the 224-member Assembly. 13 MLAs as of now have submitted their resignations. Of the 13, there are ten Congress legislators and three from the JD(S). If the resignations are accepted, Congress-JDS numbers would reduce to 105. Out of which the grand old party will have 71 legislators including the speaker while the JDS will be left with 35 legislators including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate.

“BJP is spending 1000 Crores for purchasing MLAs in Karnataka. You read it right, "1000 Crore Rupees Only". Almost 10% of annual state budget of Mizoram, Manipur & Sikkim! How & where did Modi, Shah get this money from? 'Corruption-free rule' is only on books & reality is this! (sic), JDS said on Twitter.