While the 13 rebel Congress-JDS MLAs from Karnataka lodged in a Mumbai resort, political blame game continued on Sunday.
Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah said, "I am in touch with 5-6 MLAs. I can't reveal all details. Everybody is loyal to the party. It is not a question of a person being loyal to me. Everybody is expected to be loyal to the party."
"This clearly shows that BJP is behind all these defections. It is Operation Kamala...Everything is fine. Don't worry. The government will survive, there is no threat to the government," the former CM further added.
"Ramalinga Reddy Ji is a senior leader and a Congressman. For long he has been holding Congress's fort in Bengaluru. Let us see what are his grievances and what we can do," remarked senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
Kharge, when asked that there are talks that he could be made the Karnataka CM, said, "I don't know. I want this alliance govt to continue. We want that this should go on smoothly. These are all flimsy information being fed to the press just to divide us."
"The BJP is trying to sabotage non-BJP governments. They want to weaken regional parties. This is not right. It hasn't been a year since the Karnataka election. I'm scared, where's democracy in this country? BJP arranged special flights for them," said Mr Kharge, as the Congress-JDS coalition government in the state appears to be living on the edge.
BS Yeddyurappa, while denying charges made by Kharge, remarked, "I am going to Tumkur and I will come back at 4 pm. You know about the political developments. Let's wait and see. I don't want to answer to what HD Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah say. I am nowhere related to this."
Senior Congress leader and state minister DK Shivakumar to meet JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda at his residence on Sunday.
The 13 MLAs who submitted their resignation were in constant touch with Congress MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi who travelled with them to Mumbai. Jarkiholi, a former Congress minister, is known to be very close to a senior Maharashtra BJP minister.
“He had planned the entire event, from the mass resignations to taking the MLAs to Mumbai to keep them away from being recalled by their party leaders,” said sources.
All the 10 MLAs are lodged in a star property near the CBI office in Mumbai.
On the choice of Saturday as the chosen date for the en-masse resignations, sources said that they were waiting for former JDS state president AH Vishwanath to hand over charge.
“On July 4, after the JD(S) replaced him with five-time MLA HK Kumaraswamy, the MLAs decided to submit their resignations. They were led by Vishwanath,” said a source. The MLAs met the Governor and requested him to provide them with protection.
While Jarkiholi might be taking the help of the BJP minister in Maharashtra, in Karnataka, the state unit of the party has chosen to keep its distance and is unlikely to take any followup action till July 20.
“This is because the party wants to ensure that the resignations are genuine and will be accepted,” a source said.
Additionally, the saffron party is also wary of the role Siddaramaiah has to play in the current crisis.
Some MLAs who submitted their resignation on Saturday did not join the rest in Mumbai, instead stayed back to meet or negotiate a deal with the Congress leaders in the evening.
Three of those who resigned--Byarathi Basavaraj, Somashekhar and B.C. Patil--are known Siddaramaiah loyalists, and could possibly withdraw their resignations if he is made Chief Minister.
This has given rise to speculation that the crisis could, partly, have been staged by the former CM. On the face of it, however, Siddaramaiah expressed shock at the resignations by his loyalists and was trying to reach out to them. “Last week he had to broker peace between Basavaraj and his close friend -- Minister K.J George, who had a heated argument over the transfer of a senior officer,” a source said.
“Basavraj approached the CM and got a senior officer close to the Minister, transferred without consulting him. George was miffed with Basavaraj. It had become so bad that Siddaramaiah had to intervene. Basavaraj even threatened to leave the party. It was the same issue with Somashekhar, who was miffed with an IAS officer, known to be close to the CM. Somashekhar too had threatened to resign from the party. Siddaramaiah had to cajole him to stay put,” the source added.
Whether it is cumulative problems coming to a head, providing an easy breeding ground for discontent, or a pre-planned jolt to an already shaky government, Kumaraswamy’s days as CM could be numbered.
Also because his biggest benefactor, Rahul Gandhi, has relinquished the role from which he was being given protective cover against the tug-of-war within the coalition.
(With ENS and ANI Inputs)