Karnataka crisis: Yeddyurappa sacks two more ministers

MANGALORE - Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday dropped two more dissident ministers from his Cabinet.

The dropped ministers are Minister for Municipal Administration Balachandra Jarakihole and Minister for Fisheries Anand Asnotikar.

With this, the number of dissident ministers dropped from the ministry since Wednesday has risen to six.

Earlier,Yeddyurappa dropped four ministers including (Textiles Minister) Venkataramanappa, (Minister for Agricultural Marketing) Shivaraj Thangadagi, (Youth Services and Sports Minister) D Sudhakar and (Animal Husbandry Minister) P M Narendraswamy.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party has asked senior leader Venkaiah Naidu to intervene. He has been rushed to Bangalore to help resolve the issue within the state government.

Naidu is expected to mediate between Yeddyurappa and the rebellious MLAs, who have withdrawn support from the government.

Nineteen MLAs on Wednesday handed over a letter to the Governor, withdrawing their support. They are reportedly unhappy over the recent Cabinet reshuffle in which six new ministers were inducted.

Following, the withdrawal, the Governor has asked Yeddyurappa to prove his majority by October 12.

Despite the crisis, Yeddyurappa seemed confident and said he’ll prove the majority by October 11, a day ahead of the Governor’s deadline of October 12.

“I talked to the Governor… the house will meet on October 11… the MLAs who have gone out of town will be back soon. I am confident of proving majority, ” said Yeddyurappa.

In the 224-member Assembly, BJP and independents together had the strength of 123 members. With Wednesday’s developments it has been reduced to 104 members. The BJP now requires the support of 113 members to prove its majority.

The BJP earlier had 117 MLAs including the Speaker, followed by Congress 73, JDS 28 and independents six. (ANI)