Bangalore: In a quick turn of events, H D Deve Gowda's son H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday broke away from the Janata Dal (Secular) party along with 46 MLAs and staked claim to form an alternative government in Karnataka.
Seven JD(S) ministers loyal to Kumaraswamy have resigned from the Dharam Singh government.
Kumaraswamy claimed 46 party MLAs have submitted a signed affidavit extending their support to his faction.
Six independents have also joined the faction to take a slice of the power pie, taking the number of MLAs who support Kumaraswamy upto 52.
Adding fuel to the crisis, the BJP has openly declared its suppport to an alternative government under Kumaraswamy.
Kumaraswamy, accompanied by the MLAs, went to Governor T N Chaturvedi's residence to stake claim to form a government in Karnataka.
Deve Gowda has asked the governor not to honour his son's claim, saying that the real is M P Prakash.
The governor will consult a legal expert on the issue of the formation of the government.
However, the support of 52 MLAs has given Kumaraswamy an outright majority and going by the numbers, the split within JD(S) seems formal now.
The politics of split has not been a sudden development. In fact, the storm was brewing ever since the Congress single-handedly swept the Zilla and Taluk panchayat polls.
The JD(S) fared badly in the polls as did the BJP. The two parties have since then been feeling threatened by the strong presence of Congress in the state.
The reality of the split, however, became evident when only a handful of MLAs, including top leaders M P Prakash and P G R Scindhia, turned up for a meeting at JD(S) leader Deve Gowda's residence.
Deve Gowda is left with very few MLAs in terms of numbers.
Experts feel that Deve Gowda's predicament is a very clear case of a politician overplaying his cards.
The former prime minister had threatened to walk out of the Dharam Singh-led Congress-JD(S) coalition government in the state and now his own son has walked out on him.
Political experts feel that Deve Gowda cannot extend support to his son now, because he risks losing face if he does so.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader in Assembly B S Yediyurappa also wants to join the government under Kumaraswamy.
However, there are still a few contentious issues like urbanisation and rural development that need to be ironed out between the BJP and the JD(S)before a government under Kumaraswamy takes the reins.
Sources say it has already been decided that if the breakaway faction is invited to form the government, Kumaraswamy will be the Chief Minister for 20 months while the Deputy Chief Minister will be someone from the BJP.
The arrangement will be reversed after 20 months.
The half-way mark for a clear majority to form the government in Karnataka is 113.
The BJP is still the single-largest party with 79 MLAs and with the 51 MLAs of the breakaway group of JD(S), the two parties are likely to cross the half-way mark with a clear majority of 130 seats.
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