No more resignations expected: Karnataka CM
Bangalore : Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar Wednesday said no more resignations were expected from the ruling BJP, though speculation continued that several party law makers would soon quit and join the 12 who resigned Tuesday.
“All ministers and MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly) are in touch with me. I do not expect any one of them to resign,” Shettar told reporters here.
State Bharatiya Janata Party chief and deputy chief minister K.S. Eshwarappa also said that he did not expect any more resignations from the assembly and the party.
“We have been maintaining that only 13 or 14 MLAs will leave. And 12 have now quit,” he said.
Tuesday, 13 BJP law makers submitted their resignation letters to assembly speaker K.G. Bopaiah, who accepted 12 and held one back on technical grounds. The 13th resignation is expected to come through Wednesday.
The 13 who submitted resignation letters are followers of former BJP chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and would now join the Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) led by him Thursday.
The 12 are to quit the BJP Wednesday.
“We will fax our resignation from the primary membership of BJP today (Wednesday),” B.P. Harish, one of the 12 who quit the assembly Tuesday, told reporters here.
The resignations have left the Shettar government with a wafer-thin majority in the assembly. If more party MLAs quit, the BJP would have to depend on independents for survival.
The BJP strength now stands at 106, including the speaker, in the 225-member assembly. Two seats are vacant.
The party has the support of one of the seven independents, who is also a cabinet minister.
There is one nominated member who belongs to the BJP.
The Congress has 71 members, and the Janata Dal-Secular 26.
Both Shettar and Eshwarappa expressed confidence that the 10-day budget session would be held as scheduled, beginning Feb 4. They said the chief minister would present the 2013-14 budget Feb 8.
“We have majority and will prove it, if necessary,” Eshwarappa said.