Drop Dy, JD(S) tells Dharam

Party president Thippanna said a new leader of the legislature party would be elected soon. He was non-committal over the contents of the letters.

The letters were handed over to the Speaker by a group of legislators headed by party’s working president H.D. Kumaraswamy. Later, Thippanna joined them in the Assembly lounge.

Meanwhile, decks have been cleared for Revenue Minister M.P. Prakash to take over as the leader of the legislature party and the deputy chief minister tomorrow morning, when Siddaramiah’s detractors will meet at his house. The legislators will later meet at the legislature party office in Vidhana Soudha to make a formal announcement.

The JD(S) had expected the Assembly session to be concluded on Monday evening, after which the leadership wanted to take action against Siddaramaiah. However, the opposition members did not give scope for that and urged the Speaker to extend the session by a day. When indications came that the session might be extended till Friday, the leaders decided to act.

Also, Siddaramaiah has called a meeting of the legislature party tomorrow evening. Since he has served a notice to each member, they would have been bound to attend.

The Chief Minister, however, has already said two coordination committees of both parties would be formed in two or three days to ensure the crisis does not hit the government.

One committee at the government level and the other at the party level, comprising Congress and JD(S) leaders, would be set up to strike coordination between the two establishments, Singh said after discussions with state unit JD(S) working president H.D. Kumaraswamy.

I won’t step down, says Siddaramaiah

Bangalore: Shortly after the JD(S) announcement, Siddaramaiah refused to step down from the post and the ministry. “Why should I resign? I have not become the deputy chief minister by somebody’s mercy. I have become the deputy chief minister after building the party”.

Describing as “illegal” the meeting on Monday where Gowda loyalists decided to remove him as leader of the legislature party and recommend his removal from the ministry, the deputy CM said: “Let them do whatever they want. It is an illegal meeting and decisions taken there have no legal sanctity,” Siddaramaiah said. —PTI