Bangalore: Kumaraswamy Convenes Cabinet Meet on Friday, Oct 5
PTI
Bangalore, Oct 5: In a sudden development, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has decided to convene an emergency meeting of the Cabinet on Friday, sources said.
The meeting is expected to be called at 09.30 am to discuss the contentious power-transfer issue, over which BJP ministers have already resigned.
Sources said Kumaraswamy intend to discuss the issues that hindered power-transfer to BJP at the meeting and also certain unilateral decisions taken by the saffron party leaders.
Deputy CM B S Yediyurappa, who submitted his resignation to CM Kumaraswamy, playing with granddaughter Mytri at his residence in Bangalore on Wednesday after visiting Yediyur Siddalingeshwara temple in Tumkur district.
Corridor of power inside Vidhana Soudha wears a deserted look on Wednesday as BJP ministers have resigned on Tuesday
Deputy CM Yediyurappa visits Yediyur Siddalingeshwara temple in Tumkur district on Wednesday.
'Power' of an elephant being bestowed? Dy CM Yediyurappa gets blessings from temple elephant at Yediyur Siddalingeshwara temple in Tumkur district on Wednesday.
At the meeting, the chief minister is expected to decide on summoning an emergent session of the state legislatures to seek a floor test, they said.
The sources, however, could not elaborate on the reasons that prompted Kumaraswamy to prove his strength on the floor of the legislature, as there was no demand for it.
Meanwhile, several BJP leaders, including dyCM B S Yediyurappa have been camping in Delhi, where the party has summoned its Parliamentary Board meeting to discuss the Karnataka political crisis.
The JD(S) will be holding its Political Affairs Committee conclave to deliberate on power-transfer issue on Friday in Delhi.
As the JD(S) delayed power-transfer, BJP ministers handed over their resignation letters to Kumaraswamy on October 2, an action which came under sharp attack by the Chief Minister.
The ministers of the saffron party have chosen to stay away from their official work till the impasse is resolved.
Kumaraswamy threatens elections
NDTV
Bangalore: Karnataka power transfer drama got a fresh twist on Thursday. Chief Minister Kumaraswamy has now said that if the situation continues he will break his promise to the BJP and face elections.
"I did not beg BJP for support. Will break my promise to BJP, I am ready to face elections,'' said H D Kumaraswamy.
The BJP for its part insists that it is only a matter of time before they take over the post of chief minister.
The JD(S) that has a state executive meeting of its MLAs in Bangalore is likely to decide on Friday whether it will honour its side of the coalition arrangement to hand over power.
Deve Gowda To Meet Rajnath on Saturday
Agency report
Bangalore: Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) president H.D. Deve Gowda will meet Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Rajnath Singh in New Delhi Saturday morning in a last attempt to save their coalition in Karnataka.
'I will have frank discussions with the BJP national president. If there is an understanding, it is fine. Otherwise, each party has a right to take its own decision,' Gowda told his party's state executive committee meeting here ahead of Friday's political affairs committee (PAC) meeting in New Delhi.
'In another 48 hours, the final outcome (on power transfer in Karnataka) will be known,' he said.
'The PAC meeting starts at 3 p.m. It may not end that night. Hence Saturday morning I along with a member of the PAC will meet the BJP chief,' said the former prime minister.
The state executive committee meeting authorised Deve Gowda to take a final decision on handing over the chief ministership to the BJP as agreed to by his son, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, 20 months back.
Patil says BJP has no chance to come to power in Karnataka
Khabrein
Bangalore: Shivraj Patil, the union home minister has almost taken the lid off the behind the scene support that the Congress party has assured to embattled Janta Dal (S) government in the state. The Home Minister today said in Bangalore that the BJP had no chance of coming to power in any state in South India.
He said that there was no prospect of BJP coming to power in the state. Though the home minister declined to comment on whether the Congress party was ready to join hands with the Janta Dal (S) but he gave enough indication as to what was cooking behind the scene.
Patil also denied meeting with JD(S) Supremo and a former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda today.
In the meantime Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has announced to convene a meeting of the cabinet on Friday. It is rumored that Kumaraswamy intends to discuss the issues that hindered power-transfer to BJP at the meeting and also certain unilateral decisions taken by the saffron party leaders.
If sources are to be believed the Chief Minister in the meeting is expected to decide on summoning an emergent session of the state legislatures to seek a floor test, they said.
According to Congress sources, senior party leaders in Karnataka and at the national level were contemplating propping the H.D. Kumaraswamy government in the state. The state government has been in trouble since the JD-S/Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition soured over transfer of power. Congress leaders said they would ensure that the JD-S snapped relations with the BJP completely.
But all sections of the Congress are not supportive of the move as it may go against the party in the forthcoming polls and the Congress may also lose the anti-incumbency advantage that it enjoys right now. Congress last week emerged as the single largest party in municipal elections in the state.
Earlier all ministers belonging to the BJP in Janta Dal (S) and BJP coalition government resigned here leaving the government on brink of collapse. The BJP ministers took this extreme step today after the Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy who had to make way for the deputy chief minister and BJP leader B.S. Yediurappa refused to do so.
BJP vice president and a former union finance minister Yashwant Sinha who is looking after the crisis in Karnataka told here while talking to the reporters that all ministers in the cabinet belonging to the BJP including the chief ministerial hopeful B S Yediurappa have resigned from the cabinet and they have sought an appointment with the Chief Minister to hand over their resignation letters.
Sinha said, “Since we have not heard from either the chief minister or from the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) till now, all 18 ministers have decided to meet Kumaraswamy and hand over their resignation letters with a covering letter from the party's state unit president D.V. Sadananda Gowda, explaining the reasons for leaving the government".
Apparently it was the last choice left with the BJP after both son-father duo of chief minister and his father and Janta Dal (S) chief HD Deve Gowda said in clear terms that they are not going to hand over the reins of the government to the BJP at this moment.
Chief Minister today said, "I have not received any communiqué from the BJP that I should resign today (Tuesday) and pave the way for the transfer of power. The BJP has conveyed its stand only through the media and not directly to me".
Merajuddin who was appointed the state president of the Janta Dal (S) recently to please Muslim voters in the state also denied that the chief minister was going to resign his post today. "Kumaraswamy will not resign. We have already authorised our supremo H.D. Deve Gowda to decide on the power transfer. He has convened the state executive meeting Oct 4 here and the political affairs committee meeting Oct 5 in Delhi to take the final decision on the issue," Patel said today in Bangalore.
BJP unlikely to come to power in south: Singh
UNI
Bangalore: Union Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh on Thursday ruled out the possibility of BJP coming to power in the south.
When asked whether the BJP would come to power in the south, particularly in Karnataka, he told newspersons on the sidelines of a function "I think this will never happen''.
The BJP, the coalition partner of the JD(S) in Karnataka, was currently up in arms with its partner on 'delaying' the power transfer as per the agreement reached between the two parties.
Singh declined to comment when asked whether the Congress would join hands with the JD(S) to form a government in the event of the culmination of the current coalition set up. Asked whether he met JD(S) Supremo H D Deve Gowda today, Singh replied in the negative.
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