Bengaluru: In a much needed breather for the coalition government, Congress leaders have succeeded in convincing BTM Layout MLA and former minister Ramalinga Reddy to withdraw his resignation on the eve of the trust vote being sought by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy after sixteen rebel Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) legislators resigned from the Assembly.
Mr Reddy had resigned on July 6 after being ‘sidelined’ by his party which failed to induct him into the council of ministers. Subsequently, senior Congress leaders like CLP leader Siddaramaiah, former Union Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC General Secretary K.C. Venugopal and KPCC President Dinesh Gundurao met him and requested him to withdraw his resignation. They had reportedly promised him a plum post in the ministry.
Mr Reddy told Deccan Chronicle that he decided to withdraw his papers following a request from party workers and state leaders. He plans to withdraw his resignation on Thursday after meeting Speaker Ramesh Kumar, and will support the trust vote.
But the withdrawal is unlikely to change the equations in favour of the Congress-JD(S) coalition as it will be still short of four MLAs to reach the magic number of 105.
In fact BJP leaders had tried to woo Mr Reddy and his daughter and Jayanagar MLA Soumya Reddy. HoweverMr Reddy has chosen to remain in the Congress.
