BJP seeks PMs intervention to end Karnataka political crisis

Two days after BJP and JD (S) leaders paraded their 129 MLAs in front of Karnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur to show their majority to form the next Government in the State, senior BJP leaders today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urged him to revoke the Presidents rule in the State.

New Delhi, Oct 31 : Two days after BJP and JD (S) leaders paraded their 129 MLAs in front of Karnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur to show their majority to form the next Government in the State, senior BJP leaders today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urged him to revoke the President's rule in the State.

The BJP, which is turning impatient since the Governor has not made any decision on this, fears that its MLAs could be poached and its ally JD(S) could split.

After the BJP delegation led by Leader of the Opposition L K Advani met the Prime Minister, senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said that Singh assured them that the Centre would go by the spirit of the Constitution.

However, he added that the Prime Minister has not set any timeframe for it.

BJP president Rajnath Singh was also present at the meeting.

Meanwhile, the BJP party workers are holding rallies in Bangalore to press their demand of inviting their leader B S Yediyurappa to form the next coalition government in the State.

Three weeks after a bitter public spat and BJP's withdrawal of support from the its coalition with the JD (S), both parties came together last weekend deciding to form the next coalition in the State under Yediyurappa's leadership.

Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy made a turnabout and decided to support the BJP, but a prospect of a revolt within his party still looms large, which has made the BJP impatient and nervous.

Former Deputy Chief Minister and a senior JD (S) leader M P Prakash has already revolted against his party's decision to back the BJP.

Prakash, who revolted against the party supremo H D Deve Gowda, says that the support letter submitted by the JD (S) leadership to the Governor in support of the formation of the BJP-led government is "invalid and illegal".

He alleges that the JD (S) legislative party meeting was not held before former Kumaraswamy submitted the support letter to the Governor.

A powerful Lingayat leader, Prakash had played the role of his party's points-man for talks with the Congress in recent weeks, and is reportedly miffed over by the sudden decision taken by Kumaraswamy to realign with the BJP after a bitter public fallout with the saffron party.

He claims that he has the support of 31 JD (S) MLAs. n the present State Assembly, which has been kept under suspended animation, the BJP has highest number of legislators with 79 MLAs, followed by the Congress with 65 MLAs, which excludes the eight other members led by former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who broke away from the JD (S) to join the Congress. Kumaraswamy led JD (S) has officially 57 members in the legislature, but its strength is down to 48 after Siddaramaiah's defection. The smaller parties and independents only add to 17 in the 224-member Assembly.

Meanwhile, no words have come from Raj Bhavan and the Governor is discussion the situation with legal experts.

ANI