Bengaluru: The Congress strategy to woo leaders who had left the party for various reasons in the past and re-induct them into the party seems to have received a good response.

According to party sources, 15 leaders who are now in BJP and JDS have shown interest to return to the party. A final decision in this regard will be taken by the KPCC president (designate) DK Shivakumar who has yet to formally take over the reins of the party in the state as the state government has denied him the opportunity citing lockdown regulations, for the third time. The simple function at the party office was slated for June 14, 2020. Mr. Shivakumar was appointed to the post in March 2020 but could not formally assume office as the COVID19 induced Lockdown was in place.

According to sources, among these 15 leaders, at least 10 are MLAs and MLCs who are now in other parties. “They have shown interest to return to party if they are honored with suitable responsibilities,” explained a party leader.

It may be recalled that recently DK Shivakumar formed a committee to reach out to these leaders. This initiative seems to taken shape as the erstwhile congress leaders have evinced interest. BA Hasanabba, convenor of the committee said that the party’s senior leaders will take a final decision in this regard. “The Committee’s task is preparing a list of leaders who are ready to rejoin the party,” he said.

Background:
In July 2019, several government members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in India submitted their resignations to the speaker, which led to the fall of the then United Progressive Alliance government in Karnataka. At the 2018 elections to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, the BJP won the most seats—104, but the Congress Party (INC) and Janata Dal (Secular) formed a coalition government with 120 out of 224 seats.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the BJP-led NDA won 26 out of 28 seats in Karnataka while the INC-led UPA won two.

On 1 July 2019, two members, Ramesh Jarkiholi and Anand Singh of the INC submitted their resignations. Over the next few days, 10 Congress and 3 JD(S) MLAs resigned from the Legislative Assembly.

The reaction of the coalition government was to attempt to convince the MLAs who had submitted their resignations to rescind them but to no avail. The speaker, K.R. Ramesh Kumar, did not immediately accept the resignations, on the grounds that he was constitutionally obliged to scrutinize them.

Consequently, some of those who had submitted their resignations approached the Supreme Court, which on 12 July agreed to hear the case on 16 July, whilst ordering the speaker not to disqualify any lawmakers or take any other action in this connection. At the 16 July hearing, after hearing Mukul Rohatgi, counsel for the MLAs and Rajeev Dhavan, who appeared for the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Ranjan Gogoi, the Chief Justice, said that the court would have to balance two competing claims: first, the excuse of resignation could not be used to circumvent anti-defection measures; but, second, claims of defection should not be used to prevent resignation. He also said that the court would have to consider the extent to which it is permitted to issue directions to holders of other constitutional posts, such as that of the speaker of the assembly.

In the end, the Speaker accepted the resignations, and the then existing state government was replaced by the BJP with BS Yediyurappa as CM.