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Another minister quits, Karnataka government on brink of collapse
The JDS-Congress government in Karnataka was on the brink of a collapse on Monday as an Independent legislator resigned from the Cabinet and withdrew his support to the ruling coalition, which has already been hit by the resignations by over a dozen MLAs of the two parties.
By
migrator
migrator
Bengaluru
Karnataka Minister and Independent MLA R Shankar on Monday resigned from the HD Kumaraswamy cabinet and extended support to the opposition BJP.
Shankar met state Governor Vajubhai Vala and conveyed his decision to support BJP, a communication from the Raj Bhavan said.
Shankar, who is Municipalities Minister, tendered his resignation letter to Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah along with 20 other Congress ministers to pave way for a dozen of its rebels from withdrawing their resignations and making them ministers to save the coalition government from collapsing ahead of the 10-day monsoon session of the state legislature from July 12.Â
His move came shortly after another independent MLA and Minister H Nagesh resigned from the council of ministers and withdrew support to the 13-month old Kumaraswamy-led government.
"I have this day, tendered my resignation from the council of ministers, headed by (Chief Minister) H.D. Kumaraswamy," said Nagesh, an Independent MLA from the Mulbagal (SC) Assembly constituency, in a letter to Governor Vajubhai Vala.
Nagesh, who handed over the letter to Vala at Raj Bhavan, also mentioned that he was withdrawing his support to the government.
"I would by this letter, inform your good self that I withdraw my support to the government, headed by Kumaraswamy," he wrote.
This deepens the woes of the ruling coalition for which trouble started on Saturday when 10 Congress and three JD-S MLAs resigned from the Assembly, expressing lack of confidence in the government.
However, Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar is yet to decide on these resignations.
This is the second time Nagesh and Shankar, who represents the Rannebennur Assembly segment, have withdrawn support to the coalition government. They earlier did so on January 15 after being dropped from the ministry on December 22 in a minor cabinet reshuffle-cum-expansion to ensure the government's stability.
The withdrawal of support by the two MLAs to the government has dealt another blow to the coalition which is tottering on the brink of collapse after 13 MLAs of the combine resigned Saturday.
With Shankar's decision, the BJP's numbers in the 224-member assembly has gone up to 107 while the strength of the ruling coalition has come down to 116 excluding the Speaker. The half-way mark is 113.
If the Speaker accepts the resignation of the 13 MLAs, the government numbers will fall to 103.Â
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