Congress gives Adjournment Motion notice in LS over K'taka political crisis

The Congress party on Monday gave an Adjournment Motion notice in Lok Sabha over the ongoing political crisis in Karnataka, alleging that the BJP is trying to topple the Congress-JD(S) government.

Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and their chief whip in the Lower House in Parliament, Kodikunnil Suresh, have given the notice.

The 13-month-old coalition government slumped into crisis following the resignation of their 11 MLAs from the membership of the state Assembly on Saturday.

JD(S) MLA H Vishwanath had on Saturday claimed that 14 MLAs have jointly tendered their resignations to Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar and requested him to accept them.

With the dramatic turn of events, Kumaraswamy had to cut short his US visit and return to Bengaluru on Sunday, as the state government appears to have fallen into a minority.

The strength of the ruling coalition in Karnataka has come down to 105, which is eight short of the half-way mark of 113.

Apart from Congress strongman Ramalinga Reddy, Anand Singh, Ramesh Jarkiholi, BC Patil, H Vishwanath, Narayan Gowda, S Hebbar, Mahesh Kumatalli, Gopalayya, and Pratap Gowda Patil have tendered resignations. However, the Speaker is yet to accept the resignations.

As many as 10 of the rebel MLAs are lodged in Mumbai's Sofitel hotel.