Karnataka political crisis deepens as 13 Congress, JD(S) MLAs resign

The state government on the brink; BJP, which has a majority in the House, says it was not involved in the resignations

The 13-month-old Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government in Karnataka was on the brink of collapse after 13 legislators of the two parties submitted their resignations to the Speaker of the Assembly, and subsequently met the state Governor on Saturday.

With 105-seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the single largest party in the Karnataka Assembly, and can form the government if the effective strength of the 224-member Assembly were to reduce further. BJP state unit chief B S Yeddyurappa, however, denied his party was behind any “operation lotus” to engineer the resignations of the legislators.

After meeting the governor, JD(S) MLA H