Karnataka: BJP a 'poacher' party, saysr Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Terming the BJP a 'poacher' party, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday said that his party will raise the current political crisis in Karnataka in Parliament here.

"We will try to raise the Karnataka issue in the Parliament but we will not reveal our strategies before the meeting as it is against the norms of the House. Whatever we could do to overcome the crisis, we'll do, but it is clear that the BJP is a 'poacher' party," Chowdhury told ANI.

However, the BJP has rejected the allegations made by Congress by stating that it doesn't have any role in orchestrating defections in the state.

Chowdhury's remarks come after 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, Chief Minister HD 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.