Karnataka Crisis: No question of withdrawing resignations, say MLAs camped in Mumbai

Bengaluru, July 07: Karnataka political crisis deepened on Sunday with rebel Congress MLAs saying that all13 lawmakers of the ruling Congress-JD(S) alliance in the state are together and there was no question of going back to Bengaluru and withdrawing the resignations.

"We 13 MLAs submitted resignation to the Speaker and informed the Governor. We all are together. No question of going back to Bengaluru and withdrawing the resignations under any circumstance," ST Somashekar said.

According to the reports, Congress's Ramalinga Reddy, Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs Narayan Gowda and Gopalaiah, too, are unwilling to withdraw their resignations.

Congress- JD(S) leaders held a series of meeting on Sunday in a bid to save the coalition government, which has faced the problem of instability from day one it came into being.

On Saturday afternoon, 13 MLAs 10 from Congress and 3 from the JD(S) -- knocked on Speaker Ramesh Kumar's door at Vidhana Soudha and tendered their resignations. The MLAs also rushed to meet the Governor Vajubhai Vala to apprise him of the political turmoil in the coalition. The leaders are staying at Sofitel Hotel in Mumbai.

The MLAs include former state Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy, Ramesh Jarkiholi, H Vishwanath, ST Somashekar, Pratapgouda Patil, K Gopalaiah, BC Patil, Mahesh Kumtahallli, Narayana Gowda, Byrathi Basavaraj, Shivaram Hebbar, Anand Singh and Munirathna Naidu.

The 13 Karnataka MLAs, who submitted their resignation, have done so demanding a change in leadership in the Congress-JD(S) led government, helmed by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.