No chance can be taken: Congress MLAs Still at a resort

Bengaluru: In a bid to taking ‘no chances’, the Congress apparently is still keeping its MLAs at a resort outside Bengaluru, said a CNN-News18 report. Whereas, the JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy is planning to wind up the floor test within 24 hours of taking oath on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, denying all charges of horse-trading by his party, BJP chief Amit Shah said the JD(S)-Congress alliance would last just one year.

Kumaraswamy on Sunday had said that he will take oath as Karnataka Chief Minister on May 23 here in the presence of several national leaders. “I’ve deferred taking oath to Wednesday on the advise of the Congress as May 21 is (ex-Prime Minister) Rajiv Gandhi’s death anniversary. On Thursday, the Speaker will be elected and the date of seeking trust vote will be decided after that,” Kumaraswamy told reporters.

For oath-taking ceremony, Kumaraswamy has Congress leaders as well as Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The JD-S (36) and Congress (78) alliance has 117 members in the House. With the support of three others, Kumaraswamy has 6 more than the required 111 halfway mark, excluding the Speaker to prove a majority in the House.

This is the second time Kumaraswamy, the son of JD-S supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, will be the Chief Minister of the southern state, 12 years after the JD-S formed a coalition government with the BJP on February 4, 2006 and remained in office for 20 months till October 9, 2007.

(With IANS inputs)