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All BJP ministers in Karnataka resign

By IANS

Bangalore : All Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers in Karnataka Tuesday resigned after Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy refused to step down and transfer power to that party following their 20-month-old agreement.

Yashwant Sinha, BJP vice-president who oversees the party’s affairs in Karnataka, told reporters here that all 18 ministers, including Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediurappa, had sought appointment with Kumaraswamy late Tuesday to hand over the one-line resignation letters.

“At a meeting of the ministers, it has been unanimously decided that our ministers will resign from the ministry because Kumaraswamy has failed to meet the deadline to transfer power to our party as agreed upon 20 months ago.

“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,” Sinha said.

The BJP was left with little option after Kumaraswamy rejected its deadline.

“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,” Kumaraswamy told reporters at a Gandhi Jayanti function here.

JD-S state unit president Merajuddin Patel also rejected the BJP’s ultimatum and ruled out Kumaraswamy stepping down Tuesday.

“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 told reporters at the party office.

The JD-S also convened a meeting of its legislators later tonight to discuss the crisis arising out of its ally’s demand for power transfer as per the accord reached between the two parties in February 2006.

According to their agreement, the JD-S was to transfer power to its ally Oct 3 after Kumaraswamy’s 20-month term as chief minister.

“As the agreement was between the two leaders (Kumaraswamy and Yediyurappa), our party is not in the picture. Moreover, the political situation is not the same as it was 20 months ago. We have to take a consensus view of our legislators as well as of the leadership,” Patel said.

Meanwhile, the main opposition Congress said it was ready for a mid-term election for the state assembly in the event of the JD-S-BJP coalition government falling apart.

“We have retained our top position in the recent urban local bodies elections though the issues were different from those before an assembly election. We are ready to face the snap poll any time,” Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters later.