A defiant Congress on Tuesday sought the disqualification of nine of the 10 rebel party legislators who have submitted their resignations from the Karnataka assembly.
'We have petitioned the Speaker (K.R. Ramesh Kumar) to disqualify 9 rebel legislators under the anti-defection law if they don't withdraw their resignations,'Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah told reporters.
Of the 13 rebels, including three of the ally Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), 12 resigned on July 6 while Congress MLA Anand Singh did on July 1.
'We urge the rebels to withdraw their resignations and be in the party...,' Siddaramaiah said after a two-hour long CLP meeting in the state secretariat here.
Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister and BJP President Amit Shah of conspiring with their party's state leaders against the 13-month-old coalition government, Siddaramaiah said intoxicated with power and the huge mandate they got in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, they were indulging in anti-democratic ways and means to dislodge a duly elected state government.
'As the BJP failed 5 times over a year to overthrow our government and return to power, it will again fail for the sixth time, as the majority of our legislators are loyal to the party and will not betray it,' he said.