The rumours started when some news reports claimed that BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa and former water resources minister and Congress MLA MB Patil boarded the same flight for Delhi on Monday.

Amid sounds of discord in the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance in Karnataka, speculations are afloat that at least eight to 10 disgruntled Congress MLAs may join hands with the BJP to bring down the HD Kumaraswamy-led state government, less than three months after he took charge.

The rumours began to circulate after some news reports claimed that BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa and former water resources minister and Congress MLA MB Patil had boarded the same flight for Delhi on Monday.

Patil has reportedly been upset since the government was formed for being denied a ministerial berth in the Karnataka Cabinet. He had held protests in the state and had managed to get the support of several MLAs, including MTB Nagaraj, Satish Jarkiholi, Sudhakar and Roshan Baig. He had told reporters that "his self-respect was hurt" on being denied a ministerial post.

However, the matter was closed after Congress president Rahul Gandhi and senior party leader Ahmed Patel intervened and prevented a near rift by placating Patil.

The rumours found more weight when Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundurao accused the BJP of still trying to poach Congress MLAs to bring instability to the state.

"The BJP is desperate and trying to bring down this government. They are unable to digest staying out of power, so they are trying to do all sorts of things but not succeeding," he said in response to reports that a few Congress MLAs were in touch with the BJP.

He also revealed that Rahul was scheduled to visit Karnataka on 13 August and will meet party leaders, apart from addressing a public rally in Bidar.

These developments come days ahead of an ambitious Cabinet expansion expected before Independence Day. The exercise in June had pushed the alliance to the edge with several Congress MLAs expressing their displeasure over not receiving ministerial berths in an alliance where the Congress has the larger share of seats. There are still seven ministerial posts empty — six for the Congress and one for the JD(S) — which are expected to be used to accommodate leaders from North Karnataka, a region where the Congress enjoys a better seat share.

According to a report in The News Minute, apart from Patil, former home minister Ramalinga Reddy as well as senior Congress leader Baig are also unhappy about being benched.

Meanwhile, Congress party sources have dismissed these as plain rumours merely being floated by party leaders ahead of the Cabinet expansion to secure plush portfolios, according to a report in The Times of India. Party sources were quoted as saying in the newspaper that the Congress' central leadership is unlikely to bow down to such stage-managed pressure tactics, and Cabinet expansion will be conducted according to the party high command's wishes.

Earlier, there were reports that the Congress would rotate ministers to placate disgruntled MLAs, and that non-performers could be dropped in the next expansion.

With inputs from agencies