BS Yeddyurappa spoke to reporters today.
Highlights
- On Saturday, 11 lawmakers of the coalition government resigned
- The BJP said it is "ready to form the government" if situation arises
- The Congress has alleged the BJP is "engineering defections"
Karnataka BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa today said he is "nowhere related" to the political crisis in the state, a day after 11 lawmakers of the Congress-JDS coalition resigned plunging the coalition government into trouble.
The former chief minister's remarks came amid allegations by the Congress that the BJP is engineering defections to overthrow governments in states ruled by the opposition parties.
"You know about the political developments. Let's wait and see. I don't want to answer to what HD Kumaraswamy and Siddaramaiah say. I am nowhere related to this," the 76-year-old-year BJP leader told reporters this morning.
Amid efforts by the coalition partners to salvage the political situation in the state, Karnataka Congress chief Siddaramaiah this morning said: There was no threat to our coalition....the coalition government is safe."
Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, who was in the US, has cut short his trip; he is likely to return to Bengaluru today, news agency ANI reported.
On Saturday, 11 lawmakers of the coalition government - eight from the Congress and three from Janata Dal Secular - had submitted their resignations. They were flown to Mumbai and herded into a five-star hotel. Earlier on Monday, two Congress lawmakers had resigned, but the resignations were not accepted.
The Congress and the JDS together have 118 members in the 224-seat state assembly, along with one BSP and one Independent member. The defections will bring its numbers down to 105 and the majority mark in the assembly from 113 to 106.
The BJP, which has 105 lawmakers in the state assembly, said on Saturday that it is "ready to form the government in Karnataka if the situation arises,"
Earlier this morning, Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that "the BJP is trying to sabotage non-BJP governments". "They want to weaken regional parties. This is not right... The centre is directly involved in the turmoil," the senior Congress leader claimed. On reports that his name was doing the rounds for the chief minister's post, he said: "This is all flimsy information being fed to the press just to divide us."
(With inputs from ANI)