Defence minister Rajnath Singh speaks during the question hour at the Rajya Sabha in New Delhi on Monday. (ANI... Read More

NEW DELHI: The BJP-ruled government has no relation to the ongoing developments in Karnataka and did not put pressure on any MLA or MP to switch parties, Union minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday in Lok Sabha .

The defence minister said the government is committed to protect the sanctity of Parliament .

"Whatever is happening currently in Karnataka, we have not relation with that," he said, replying to the issue raised by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury .

Chowdhury alleged the BJP-ruled government is hatching a conspiracy to break the Congress-led government in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

"This government is secretly hatching a conspiracy against the state government. They took our MLAs to a five star hotel in Mumbai," Chowdhury said during Zero Hour .

He also said that immediately after the MLAs met the governor, vehicles, airplane and hotel facilities were already there.

To drive home his point, Chowdhury said if one has 10 silver and gold coins each but not facility to secure them, it does not mean that an outsider will steal them.

The defence minister said the resignation drive was started by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi .

"Big leaders of Congress are resigning," he added.

Immediately after the minister's reply, Congress members started shouting and showing placards with "Save Democracy" written on them.

Members did not pay heed to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla's repeated request to stay calm.

TR Baalu (DMK) and Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC) raised their issues during Zero Hour, but in the pandemonium, the Speaker adjourned the House for lunch.

Congress ministers in Karnataka resign voluntarily to enable cabinet reshuffle

In a last-ditch effort to save the 13-month-old Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka which has been hit by resignations of over a dozen MLAs, the Congress Monday said its ministers have resigned voluntarily to enable a reshuffle of the cabinet and make way for the disgruntled legislators.

This decision was taken at a breakfast meeting of Congress ministers at deputy chief minister G Parameshwara's residence here. The meeting was attended by CLP leader Siddaramaiah and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal among others.

Chief minister HD Kumaraswamy held discussions with Congress leaders after the meeting.

"For the larger interest of the party, yesterday and today, we had detailed discussions with senior leaders and ministers. Today morning, we met the ministers. In the prevailing condition, the ministers themselves voluntarily resigned ministership as far as the Congress ministers are concerned," Venugopal said after the meeting.



In Video: BJP-ruled government has no relation with developments in Karnataka: Rajnath Singh