Another ruling BJP MLAresigned his assembly membership, further jolting the party inthe poll-bound state.
H S Shankarlinge Gowda, who represents ChamarajaAssembly constituency, waited for more than 90 minutes forSpeaker K G Bopaiah and submitted his resignation letter,official sources said.
Bopaiah immediately accepted the resignation of Gowda,who is now all set to join JDS.
Gowda's resignation comes two days after ForestMinister C P Yogeeshwar and Small Scale Industries MinisterRajugouda quit the Jagadish Shettar Cabinet. Yogeeshwar hadalso submitted his resignation from the assembly membership toBopaiah in person at Madikeri yesterday.
However, the Speaker is yet to announce his decisionon Yogeeshwar's resignation.
Bopaiah declined to meet reporters, who thronged hisoffice to know the fate of his resignation.
With Gowda quitting his assembly membership, BJP'sstrength in the 225-member House has come down to 104,followed by Congress 71, JDS 25, Ind 7, nominated one, speakerone and 16 vacancies. If Yogeeshwar's resignation is accepted,the strength will further go down to 103, posing threat to itssurvival.
Of the seven independents, Varthur Prakash, who is inthe ministry, supports the government and B Sreeramulu of BSRCongress has also declared his support.
The resignation letters of Vittal Katakadonda and D SSuresh of BJP, who submitted their resignation two weeks ago,are yet to be accepted.
Amid these development, Chief Minister JagadishShettar continued to maintain that his government stillenjoyed majority and will complete its term.
"Let those who want to quit, let them resign. There isno threat to the government. I will complete term", he toldreporters here.
Assembly polls are due in May.
Meanwhile, Opposition Congress leader in the AssemblySiddaramaiah said his party would approach Governor H RBhardwaj "if the government loses majority".