Karnataka crisis: BJP ready to form govt; ball in the Speaker’s court, says Deve Gowda

Bengaluru, July 06: "The ball is in the court of the Speaker," said HD Deve Gowda even as Janata Dal (S) and Congress government headed by his son H D Kumaraswamy in Karnataka veered to the brink of collapse on Saturday as 11 MLAs submitted their resignation.

"What do you expect from me? The Speaker's office is in receipt of the resignation of 11 MLAs. The ball is in the court of the Speaker. I don't know anything about this," the former prime minister told reporters at the JD(S) headquarters here.

"As usual, I'm in my party office to discuss party affairs, including the upcoming corporation election," Gowda said, refusing to take any questions on the survival of the Congress-JD(S) coalition. "Let's not discuss that now," he said.

Eight Congress lawmakers and three from the Janata Dal Secular or JDS have submitted their resignations to the speaker, in a move that could spell trouble for the coalition.

The BJP, which has 105 legislators, says the party has nothing to do with the walkout by the Congress legislators - and says if the government falls, the BJP should be invited to form government.

"Congress-JDS coalition has been rejected by people of Karnataka. Despite their coalition in Lok Sabha polls, BJP won a massive mandate. It clearly shows the mood of people. MLAs certainly seem to be facing brunt of public anger against coalition," said the BJP's GVL Narasimha Rao.

"Governor is the supreme authority, As per the constitutional mandate if he calls us, certainly we are ready to form the government. We are the single largest party, we have got 105 people with us," BJP leader DV Sadananda Gowda was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The 13 months-old Congress-JDS coalition had formed an alliance to keep out the BJP, which had won 105 seats in the state elections to the 225-member house. With today's resignations, the number of the Congress and the JD(S) members have reduced to 69 and 34, respectively.