K'taka Cabinet resigns, appeals rebel MLAs to return, promise reshuffle

Bengaluru: Karnataka's Congress-JD(S) coalition government led by H D Kumaraswamy, faced a whirlwind of events on Monday, just days after 13 Congress MLAs from the coalition resigned and have been staying at Mumbai's Sofitel Hotel.

The entire incident ended with all MLAs in the coalition resigning in an attempt to convince the rebels to come back and implement a complete reshuffling of the state government Cabinet and give ministerial berths to the rebels and somehow save the coalition government.

READ | K'taka crisis: All JDS, Cong ministers quit in last bid to restructure govt

Early on Monday, Congress leaders met for breakfast at Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara's residence. Congress Legislature Party leader Siddharamaiah and Ministers U T Khader, Shivashankara Reddy, Venkataramanappa, Jayamala, M B Patil, Krishna Byre Gowda, Rajshekar Patil, Rajshekar Patil, D K Shivakumar were present at G Parameshwara's residence to discuss the issue of the Congres MLAs who had resigned and fled to Mumbai.

Soon after that, Karnataka Minister and Independent MLA Nagesh resigned from his post and withdrew his support to the Congress-JD(S) coalition. Nagesh, who was recently inducted into the ministry as small scale industries minister, met Governor Vajubhai Vala at the Raj Bhavan here and submitted the letter.

After resigning, he boarded a special chartered flight out of Karnataka bound for Mumbai.

Karnataka Minister DK Shivakumar: Just now Mr Nagesh (Independent MLA who resigned as minister) called me and said that he has been hijacked by Mr Yeddyurappas' PA and BJP. By the time I reached airport the flight had left. pic.twitter.com/8GGvD76LTa

— ANI (@ANI) July 8, 2019

Just a few hours after the meeting of the Congress heads in the state, Congress leader Siddaramaiah officially declared that 21 Congress MLAs in the state and were a part of the coalition government have resigned voluntarily. This was seen as the first move to win back the rebel MLAs who had fled to Mumbai's Sofitel Hotel.

Karnataka Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah corrects himself; says, "21 Karnataka Congress ministers have resigned voluntarily" https://t.co/vXrXlaWU51

— ANI (@ANI) July 8, 2019

Around this time, there was ruckus in the Lok Sabha in New Delhi where Rajnath Singh declared that the BJP had no part in the crisis in Karnataka and that it never involved itself in horse trading activities.

By late afternoon, all the MLAs of the Janata Dal (Secular) had resigned from their posts, following the 21 Congress MLAs who had resigned voluntarily to convince the rebel MLAs to come back for negotiations.

All ministers from #JDS have submitted their resignations just like the 21 ministers from #Congress.
Cabinet reshuffle will happen soon.

— CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) July 8, 2019

Talking to the media after the JD(S) MLAs resigned, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said, "I don't want to discuss anything about politics."

#Karnataka Chief Minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy: I don't have any kind of anxiety about the present political development. I don't want to discuss anything about politics. pic.twitter.com/qsidfRD5Cg

— ANI (@ANI) July 8, 2019

Only time will now tell what is in store for Karnataka's coalition government as it tries to survive the storm of resignations and pull up its socks again.