Will he or will he not? Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy kept everyone guessing on his resignation on Tuesday, his last day in office as per the power-sharing agreement between the JD(S) and the BJP.

The guessing game continued till late in the evening as Kumaraswamy neither turned up at the party office on Race Course Road to submit his resignation letter, nor was he seen anywhere near Raj Bhavan. He gave protracted interviews to two TV channels before walking into the JDSLP meeting.

Despite his father — JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda — playing the ‘buying time’ tactic with the BJP over the power transfer and stating that the final decision will be taken by the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) on October 5, the CM has been maintaining he is for the power transfer and he was ready to resign. He slammed the BJP for communicating through the media. “No BJP leader has approached me seeking power transfer... BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has not contacted me,” he stated.

Meanwhile, JD (S) State President Merajuddin Patel asserted the CM would not resign on Tuesday. “We will not care for any power-sharing agreement done between Kumaraswamy and Yediyurappa. The BJP has to wait till October 5 if they want to know about the power transfer,” he stated.

‘TIE-BREAKER’ CM; BLESSED PARTNERS

By not demitting office, CM H D Kumaraswamy has pushed the State into a major political crisis. Both the CM and the BJP have come up with their own explanations for the same.

Kumaraswamy
* Transfer of power not in my hands
*BJP has demanded my resignation only
through media
*I have never said I’ll not quit; If I quit, there’ll be a constitutional crisis
*I will go by MLAs and Deve Gowda’s opinion
*At times, we are forced to lie
*Breaking ties sometimes become inevitable
* BSY has somewhere failed to perform his duties
* By setting a deadline, BJP has scuttled the power transfer
* BJP has mentally harassed me
* I wanted the coalition to run for 40 months, but BJP spoilt it


Yediyurappa, Yashwant Sinha
*Our agreement with JD (S) is holy
*People have blessed the coalition government
*We have to honour the pact to earn public confidence
*CM should have quit today as per agreement
*Deadline for transfer of power is over
*CM not adhering to agreement
*Our duty is to avoid constitutional crisis
*Our resignation is to strengthen CM’s hand
*BJP ministers worked enthusiastically
* Still hopeful of getting CM’s post
* CM was aware that Tuesday is the day to resign