BENGALURU: The Congress-JDS coalition has 48 hours to get its house in order, if it wants to continue in government, that is.
In the death hours, the coalition partners are keen on putting up a fight but it is the Congress in the driver’s seat.
Despite questions from within the party on the need to extend the life of the coalition, Congress leaders, including the likes of Siddaramaiah, Dinesh Gundurao, KC Venugopal, G Parameshwara and Mallikarjun Kharge are putting their heads together to see if the coalition can pull off one final trick from its hat.
With Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on auto-pilot mode, waiting for things to unwrap, the Congress is going the extra mile to reach out to influencers among the rebels to bring back at least four.
After rebel MLAs refused to meet DK Shivakumar, who camped in the rain on a Mumbai street outside the hotel, Kumaraswamy, according to sources, is unwilling to reach out to the rebels. The Congress, however, has no choice.
“He (Kumaraswamy) would rather tap into the key to the big lock that controls all the other small locks in Mumbai. The key is in Bengaluru and it has already been cracked.
Nothing is over,” said a source close to HD Kumaraswamy. Despite the numbers refusing to add up in his favour, the Chief Minister is not willing to go down without a fight.
The JDS is currently focusing on safeguarding its existing legislators. The party is not keen on having any of the three rebel MLAs back. The Congress, however, seems to believe that threats may not be the best way to deal with the rebellion.
The party believes that wooing legislators will go a long way in ensuring their support, rather than threatening or pressure tactics.
“Most of our MLAs are okay to sit in the opposition but we can’t be seen as going down without a fight. Any and every possibility will be explored till the very last moment,” said a senior office-bearer of the
Congress.
The coalition is currently riding on two hopes, one, at least five rebel MLAs could withdraw their resignations.
Two, some legislators of the BJP may refrain from House proceedings on the day of the floor test, both of which seem farfetched now. But 48 hours is a lot of time in politics.