HD Kumaraswamy's government collapsed earlier this week (file)
Former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, whose government collapsed after failing a trust vote in assembly earlier this week, has dismissed reports that a section of his party's legislators is in favour of providing outside support to the newly formed BJP government.
Mr Kumaraswamy was referring to a remark by Janata Dal Secular legislator GT Devegowda, who on Friday claimed that some lawmakers talked of providing outside support to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa's government in a party meeting.
"News about us having ties with the BJP has come to my notice. These are baseless and lawmakers and party workers should not heed to any of these rumours. It is far from the truth. We will continue our fight for the people and the fight will go on," he tweeted.
The BJP, which staked claim to power after the coalition government of the Congress and HD Kumaraswamy failed the trust vote last week, will have to prove their majority in the floor of the assembly on Monday.
The trust vote had taken place after 13 lawmakers of the Congress and three from the JDS resigned earlier this month. On Thursday, the Speaker had disqualified three of them, bringing down the majority mark in the assembly to 112. The BJP currently has 105 members.
Mr Kumaraswamy's father HD Deve Gowda also downplayed GT Devegowda's comment.
"We are going to play a constructive role. As a regional party we will oppose where we have to oppose. That's all. If you (Yediyurappa) do something good for the state, we will welcome it," he was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
"There is no big deal in saying so (to support to BJP). His (GT Devegowda's) intention was that the finance bill is passed (before July 31) because it was a budget presented by Kumaraswamy," he added.
After the meeting of party legislators in Bengaluru, GT Devegowda had said, "We (MLAs) discussed the future course of action. Some have suggested that we should sit in the opposition, while some legislators are of the opinion that we should support the BJP from outside."
Mr Kumaraswamy's coalition government had been teetering after 16 of its lawmakers resigned and two independents withdrew support. In the trust vote, the coalition cobbled together only 99 votes in comparison to the 105 votes of the BJP.
Chief Minister Yediyurappa will take the trust vote on Monday.
With inputs from PTI