Somashekar had earlier embarrassed Congress leaders, when he stated that Siddaramaiah will be made chief minister. This also made HD Kumaraswamy threaten to step down from his post
Bengaluru: A meeting of "like-minded" MLAs called by Congress legislator ST Somashekar on Tuesday, amid coalition worries, has been postponed citing preparations for the Kundgol and Chincholi Assembly by-polls as the reason.
Somashekar's invitation for a meeting of "like-minded" MLAs to discuss the present political situation in Karnataka, stating that it is growing worse every day had created tension in political circles in the state on Sunday.
The MLA's letter had come amid worries within the ruling Congress-JDS coalition and dissidence in the Congress surfacing again.
Also read: Congress, JDS falling apart in Karnataka; coalition MLAs to meet separately on April 30
"As several Congress legislators will be the present during filing of nominations for Kundgol and Chincholi by-polls today, a meeting of “like-minded” MLAs called for tomorrow has been temporarily postponed. The next date will be intimated," Somashekar said in a message to the legislators on Monday.
BJP MLC Ashwathnarayan spoke to MyNation and said, "The real culprit behind this meeting is Siddaramaiah. If MLAs were called keeping the long-pending development work as the agenda, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara or the chief minister Kumaraswamy should have called for the meeting, not Somashekar. This meeting is called to divide the government. This meeting is called to show that the Congress has a stronghold in the present coalition government. It is very evident that if the present government fails at some point in time, they will blame the BJP and wash their hands off."
The invitation has also come at a time when rebel Congress MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi is threatening to quit the party along with legislators close to him.
Congress Legislature Party leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah had also reportedly asked Somashekar and associates to postpone the meeting as it would send a wrong message to the public.
The meeting was called to discuss issues faced by MLAs under the coalition government and long-pending development work.
The scheduled meeting had irked some Congressmen, with party MLC G Raghu Achar slamming Somashekar and asking him to discuss any issues he may have with the party leadership.
In January, Somashekar had embarrassed the coalition, especially Congress leaders, with his statement that CLP leader Siddaramaiah will be made chief minister again and had claimed that development works had come to a grinding halt.
His comments had irked chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, who had even threatened to step down.
Monday was the last day to file nominations for Kundgol and Chincholi assembly by-polls that will be held on May 19
The results will be declared on May 23, along with the Lok Sabha election results.
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