BJP to hold meeting at Vidhana Soudha ahead of rebel MLAs' return

The BJP had earlier planned to hold the meeting at it party office in Malleshwaram but later moved it to Vidhana Soudha.

Ahead of the Karnataka rebel MLAs' arrival from Mumbai, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to hold a meeting at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on Thursday (July 11) evening.

The Legislature Party meeting will be held by the state BJP president BS Yeddyurappa at 4.30 pm. The saffron party has planned to conduct the meeting inside the state legislature complex to safeguard the rebel MLAs, who have been camping at a hotel in Mumbai since Saturday.

According to the reports, the BJP had earlier planned to hold the meeting at it party office in Malleshwaram but later moved it to Vidhana Soudha.

The rebel MLAs of the Congress-JD(S) coalition has been asked to report to the Karnataka speaker KR Ramesh Kumar by 6 pm on Thursday to enable him to decide on their resignations. The apex court had urged the speaker to complete the procedure in the evening itself.

But advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi representing the speaker Ramesh Kumar has urged the top court to take up an urgent hearing, as the speaker needs more time to analyse the resignations. He also said that the Supreme Court cannot direct the speaker in such matters. However, the SC has rejected the urgent hearing.

The BJP had demanded resignation from Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy. The party on Monday said that the governor Vajubhai Vala should intervene in the matter and ask the coalition government to step down as it has lost the majority.

The Congress-JD(S) alliance has accused the BJP of poaching the party MLAs by indulging 'Operation Lotus' once again. Even though the saffron party has denied the claims, BJP leaders were reportedly seen visiting the rebel MLAs at the Mumbai hotel without any trouble.