The state Cabinet which met here on Monday deferred its plans of dissolving the Assembly at least till the urban local bodies (ULB) elections are over. The ULB elections are scheduled for March 7.
It was being speculated that the State Cabinet may decide to dissolve the Assembly as several BJP MLAs deciding to resign from the Assembly and join other parties ahead of the elections.
Though the issue was debated in length and a few members were in favour of dissolving the Assembly to avoid further embarrassment, the Cabinet decided to adopt a wait and watch policy as it strongly felt no MLA would resign in the midst of the on-going ULB elections.
“The Cabinet unanimously took a decision not to dissolve the Assembly since it did not see any threat of more legislators or ministers resigning,” said a senior minister, who attended the cabinet meeting.
According to him, the MLAs who wanted to join the Congress have changed their mind after seeing the Congress party denying tickets to the supports of former minister Narasimha Naik (Raju Gouda) in the ULB elections. “Unless they are 100 percent sure of getting ticket, they (BJP MLAs) will not resign,” he added.
Chief minister Jagadish Shettar too is said to have expressed similar views.
“We can review the scenario sometime after the urban local bodies elections and later decide on dissolving the Assembly,” sources said quoting the CM. The next Cabinet meeting is scheduled for March 8.
Meanwhile, the ministers also placed the reports before the Cabinet on the prospects of the BJP in the ULB polls. All ministers were unanimous in their opinion that despite all the odds, the BJP still holds a good chance in the urban local bodies elections. “We will definitely improve our tally in the ULB polls,” a senior minister said.
Meanwhile, Governor HR Bharadwaj hinted that he would not ask the CM to prove his majority at this stage.