HD Kumaraswamy says JD(S) ready to take back rebel MLAs if they admit to making a mistake

JD(S) president HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday stated that the party may consider taking back the rebel MLAs if they admit to making a mistake.

"If the MLAs who had left the party and joined BJP want to come back and rejoin JD(S), we will look into it. If they admit that they made a mistake, we might consider allowing them to re-join the party," Kumaraswamy stated while interacting with the media in Bengaluru. 

The Janata Dal (Secular) leader's statement comes after reports relating to various MLAs including Raju Gowda, H Vishwanath, and MTB Nagaraj being unhappy with their possible exclusion from the Karnataka state cabinet. The state government's new expansion is scheduled to take place on February 6.

According to ANI sources, many of JD(S) and Congress rebel leaders are trying to reconnect with their respective parties after they were kept out of the cabinet.

On the other hand, BJP sources revealed that the MLAs are there to stay till Thursday, consultations might take place within the party to calm the differing MLAs.

BJP sources also stated that the defectors who had resigned from the Congress and the JD(S) and helped in the formation of the BJP government also participated in a meeting in Bengaluru. The rebel MLAs were unanimous about 11 MLAs who won the election be made ministers.

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Karnataka political turmoil

The 14-month old Congress-JDS coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy fell in July 2019 after 17 MLAs of the alliance submitted their resignations, which ended up paving the way for BJP, which had emerged as the single largest party in the 2018 elections, to form the government in Karnataka.

The rebel legislators were later disqualified by then speaker KR Ramesh Kumar under the anti-defection law after they tendered their resignation. The Supreme Court had later upheld their disqualification but allowed them to contest the Karnataka Assembly by-polls. 

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(With inputs from ANI)