Deve Gowda, D K Shivakumar to meet amid crisis in Karnataka

Bengaluru: Amid ongoing political turmoil in Karnataka, state Congress leader D K Shivakumar will meet JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda at his residence on Sunday.

The two leaders will meet at 12, a day after the 13 month-old coalition government of their parties slumped into crisis following the resignation of 11 of their legislators from the membership of the state Assembly.

Responding to the developments, BJP state chief BS Yeddyurappa on Sunday said, "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 do not want to answer to what H D Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah say. I am nowhere related to this."

While senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said he wants the alliance government to continue. "We want that this should go on smoothly," he said.

However, JD(S) MLA H Vishwanath on Saturday said that 14 MLAs have jointly tendered resignations to Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar and requested him to accept them. However, the Speaker has not yet accepted the resignations.

After the dramatic turn of events, the state government appears to have fallen into a minority forcing Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who is in the US, to cut short his visit. He is expected to fly back here on Sunday.

Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah late on Saturday evening held a meeting with the party MLAs where he is believed to have discussed among other things the current political situation in the state. The meeting took place at his house.

The strength of the ruling coalition in Karnataka has come down to 105, which is eight short of the half-way mark of 113.

Congress MLAs Anand Singh and Ramesh Jarkiholi resigned from the government earlier this week.

Those MLAs, who resigned from the Assembly, include BC Patil, H Vishwanath, Narayan Gowda, S Hebbar, Mahesh Kumatalli, Gopalayya, Ramesh Jharkiholi, and Pratap Gowda Patil. The dissident MLAs have reached Mumbai and are staying in Sofitel Hotel.