Bengaluru: Karnataka Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar on Tuesday gave a breather to the ruling coalition as well as time to send out fresh feelers to the rebels when he said that the resignation letters of eight out of 13 MLAs of the Cong-JD(S) alliance were not in the prescribed format and he has asked the legislators to submit them properly, by hand.
The respite came even as the Congress’ state unit sought the Assembly Speaker’s intervention in disqualifying its rebel legislators, while senior Congress leaders from Delhi — Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal — rushed to Bengaluru to keep the Congress-JD(S) government intact. They are reportedly planning to meet and convince some of the MLAs not to push for acceptance of their resignations.
The fate of the 13-month-old Congress-JD(S) government led by chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is hinged on the Speaker's decision on the resignation of the 14 MLAs, including Shivajinagar MLA R. Roshan Baig who joined the bandwagon of dissidents on Tuesday.
“The resignation letter of Congress dissident Roushan Baig was submitted today and so I have not scrutinised it,” Karnataka Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar said.
Mr Kumar has asked some legislators to appear before him on July 12 at 3 pm and 4 pm. He would meet a few others on July 15. Of the 14 MLAs who resigned, four are in Karnataka while the rest are in Mumbai.
Mr Kumar hinted the MLAs might have to personally hand over the letters, saying, “If everything can happen through postal correspondence, I am not required at all.”
