The political stalemate between coalition partners? BJP and JD(S)?in Karnataka over transfer of power took a new turn on Monday evening with all the saffron party ministers in the state cabinet handing over their resignation letters to deputy chief minister BS Yediyurappa.
The move is seen as the last ditch effort to pressurise JD(S) and its chief minister HD Kumaraswamy to pave the way for smooth transfer of power. ??Long back we took the decision to withdraw from the government on the eve of handing over the baton in the state. Under circumstances, the present move is just a hint to our partners in the government. We will wait till Tuesday and if Kumaraswamy refuses to step down and pave the way for Yediyurappa to become chief minister, our ministers would resign en masse,?? a senior BJP leader said.
As per the power-sharing pact reached between the two parties, it was agreed that JD(S) would head the government in the first 20 months, leaving the remainder of 20 months for the BJP.
After a meeting of Karnataka ministers belonging to the BJP, party in-charge of the state Yashwant Sinha said there was no question of meeting JD(S) supreme HD Deve Gowda on the issue ?at this stage?. He had met Gowda on Sunday to discuss the power transition issue without much headway.
