Kumaraswamy to begin pre-budget preparation today

It's back to business for Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who has been busy thwarting the BJP's attempts to dislodge his government.

Kumaraswamy who had kept away from the office for the last two days has a jam-packed schedule on Wednesday. Amidst various other meetings, Kumaraswamy will be beginning his pre-budget preparation exercise.

The Chief Minister who is scheduled to present his budget in the second week of February continued to look unfazed even a day after two Independent MLAs withdrew support to his government.

Reiterating that there was no threat to his government, Kumaraswamy said that the ruling party MLAs would not be shifted to any resorts.

He instead pinned the blame on the media for "misleading" the people of the state.
"I am cool and relaxed -- which means that there is no threat to my government. The Congress and JD(S) MLAs will not be shifted to any resort - there is no need for us to do so. My government is safe. The media is misleading the people by saying that the coalition government will collapse. MLAs including Ramesh Jarkiholi and B Nagendra are in touch with me. I have been speaking to them for the last three days. There is no need for Operation JD(S)," he said while speaking to reporters in Bengaluru.

His party spokesperson Ramesh Babu said that the three to four Congress MLAs who were in touch with the BJP were on their way back to Bengaluru.

He also added that none of the JD(S) MLAs would defect to the BJP. It is rumoured that the BJP has been in touch with three to four JD(S) MLAs including B Sathyanarayana (Sira), Manjunath R (Dasarahalli), Devanand Chavan (Nagthan).