What is biting the Karnataka Congress this time

Bengaluru, Oct 8: The ripples in the Karnataka Congress do not seem to end. Just when one rebellion was put to rest another rose and this time the unhappiness was made known on Twitter.

The problem erupted when it was decided to postpone the Cabinet expansion in the wake of the Election Commission of India announcing by-elections to the three Lok Sabha constituencies.

The Cabinet expansion was an exercise largely aimed at reducing the heartburn caused to many legislators, who were left out of the ministry.

Congress MLA, B C Patil in a tweet said that the "dragging the expansion of the Cabinet in Karnataka is an act of insult to legislators, killing democracy, upholding dictatorship in the name of the party." He tagged Rahul Gandhi, Dinesh Gundu Rao and Dr. G Parameshwar in the tweet.

The next to raise his voice was former minister, N Cheluvarayaswamy who said that the Congress should not have a pact with the JD(S) for the Mandya Lok Sabha by-election. In the interest of the Congress, the party should fight it alone, he said.

These statements have triggered yet another round of speculation about the stability of the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka. There are rumours that former Congress MLA, Lingappa is in talks with the BJP as he is upset that the party decided to ally with the JD(S) for the Ramanagar by-poll. A by-election became necessary after H D Kumaraswamy resigned from the seat and retained Channapatna.