Eleven Karnataka MLAs, all from the ruling Congress-JDS coalition, on Saturday, submitted their resignations to the office of the Speaker and met the Governor pushing the government to the brink of collapse.
Here are all the live updates from the state:
7:11 PM: Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, while addressing the media, on Saturday, said the BJP has not been able to digest the defeat the party received in the Karnataka assembly elections. They are using their financial might to buy our legislators.
"They are trying to lure our MLAs and even pressurising them to join the BJP," he said, adding, "there are at least 12 states where the saffron party has tried to topple elected governments."
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"If the protectors of the constitution will become its violators, who will protect," he said and reminded the oath Prime Minister Narendra Modi had taken as an elected parliamentarian.
6:35 PM: Former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa has said that they keeping a close watch on all the political developments in Karnataka. "One thing I can say is that people are not ready for elections.
"Elections are a burden on the state exchequer. If the situation arises, we'll definitely explore constitutional provisions to form next government," he said.
6:03 PM: Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda has refused to react to the ongoing political crisis in the state. "I have not spoken anything to anybody. I'm only holding my party workers meeting to prepare ourselves for the corporation polls," he said.
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5:59 PM: Karnataka minister and Congress' longstanding troubleshooter in the state DK Shivakumar has said that the MLAs had resigned for "very small reasons" which shouldn't have happened.
"It is shocking to all of us. I think good sense will prevail upon them," he said.
4:51 PM: JD (S) leader H Vishwanath says the coalition had failed to meet the expectations of people of Karnataka. "In Congress-JD (S) coalition government in Karnataka, 14 MLAs have resigned against the Government till now, We also met the Governor. We wrote to the speaker to accept our resignation," he said. Only this week, Vishwanath had stepped down as state president, making way for a new line of leadership in the regional party.
The resigned MLAs have also dismissed rumours that the BJP could be behind their resignations, adding there is "no operation Kamala."
4:46 PM: 11 Karnataka Congress-JDS MLAs Mahesh Kumathalli, B C Patil, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Shivaram Hebbar, H. Vishwanath, Gopalaiah, Byrathi Basavaraj, Narayana Gowda, Munirathna, S.T. Somashekar & Pratap Gowda Patil are at the Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru.
4:08 PM: BJP leader DV Sadananda Gowda BJP has said the Governor is the supreme authority. "As per the constitutional mandate if he calls us, certainly we are ready to form the government. We are the single largest party, we have got 105 people with us," he said.
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3:39 PM: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reacted to the current coalition crisis in Karnataka, saying they had no interference in what was transpiring in the state at the moment.
3:37 PM: Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah has reacted to the political developments in Karnataka.
3:32 PM: Senior Congress leader KC Venugopal has been sent to Bengaluru to diffuse the crisis and is expected to touch down in the city at around 5:30 PM.
3:29 PM: Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar has said that he asked his office to collect their resignations which he will look into on Monday.
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3:26 PM: The latest report indicates that it's not 8 but 11 Congress-JD(S) legislators who have submitted their resignations to Speaker's office.
3:15 PM: The situation in the state is fast developing and has now triggered uncertainty about the future of the Congress-JD(S)-led government.
3:14 PM: H D Kumaraswamy, the chief minister of Karnataka, is currently out of the country in the United States.
3:00 PM: Karnataka minister DK Shivakumar leaves for the assembly accompanied by other leaders.
2:53 PM: "I have come to submit my resignation to the speaker. I don't know about my daughter (Congress MLA Sowmya Reddy), she is an independent woman," Congress legislator Ramalinga Reddy said.
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"I am not going to blame anyone in the party or the high command. I somewhere feel I was being neglected over some issues. That is why I have taken this decision," he added.
2:30 PM: The Speaker K.R.Ramesh Kumar, however, was not in office and the MLAs were waiting for him, sources said.
In the 225-member Assembly, the Congress-JDS led combine has 117 members, just four more than the required majority of 114. The Opposition BJP has 105 MLAs.
If the eight MLAs of the ruling coalition resign, it will become a minority government.
