By IANS
Bangalore : Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy Thursday sprang a surprise on his squabbling coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by calling a cabinet meeting Friday though 17 BJP ministers have resigned seeking early transfer of power to their party.
“The cabinet meeting will be held 9.30 hours Friday,” a spokesperson for Kumaraswamy said.
He said he had no information on the agenda for the meeting, but there was speculation that Kumaraswamy may decide to seek a meeting of the state assembly to prove his majority on the floor of the house.
The tentative date for the assembly session talked about is Oct 10, but the spokesperson said no such decision was taken.
“The BJP ministers will not attend the meeting,” party spokesperson, S. Suresh Kumar told IANS.
“It is a very strange development,” he said of Kumaraswamy’s decision to hold a cabinet meet when half of his ministers have given their resignation letters to him to press for transfer of power to the BJP as agreed 20 months back.
“Their resignations have not been accepted. We have no information whether they will attend and or not,” Kumaraswamy’s spokesperson said.
All 17 BJP ministers submitted their resignation letters to Kumaraswamy Tuesday, the day his 20-month-tenure as chief minister ended.
“When our ministers gave the resignation letters, Kumaraswamy asked them to wait till Oct 5 as his party’s meeting was scheduled for that day.
“He has not responded so far. The ball is in his court. Convening a cabinet meeting at this point of time is a very strange development. We have informed our leaders in Delhi,” Suresh Kumar said.
Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa of BJP was in Delhi along with state party chief D.V. Sadananda Gowda to attend the party’s parliamentary board meeting Thursday.
Health Minister R. Ashok and Industries Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu have accompanied Yediyurappa though they are not invitees to the party meeting.
“All other ministers are either in Bangalore or in their constituencies. They will not be attending the cabinet meeting,” Suresh Kumar said.