Governor is the supreme authority, Sadanand Gowda says. (File)

The BJP is ready to form the government in Karnataka if the Governor invites, party leader DV Sadananda Gowda said amid an ongoing political crisis in the state, following the resignation of 11 lawmakers of the ruling Congress-JDS alliance.

"Governor is the supreme authority, as per the constitutional mandate if he calls us, certainly we are ready to form the government. We are the single largest party, we have got 105 people with us," the leader was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.

Mr Gowda further said that if the BJP formed a government, BS Yeddyurappa would be the Chief Minister.

Eight Congress and three Janata Dal Secular legislators submitted their resignations to the Speaker's office this evening, while he was not in office. Eight of these legislators have now gone to the Raj Bhavan to meet the Governor.

Karnataka Minister DK Shivakumar, the Congress trouble shooter who has spent many months trying to keep the flock together, coaxed four Congress lawmakers, including Ramalinga Reddy, to go with him, after meeting the rebels at the Speaker's office. "Nobody will resign. I had come to meet the MLAs," he said to the media, downplaying the danger signals.

Three of the them, however, were headed to the Governor's residence.

The resignations have not been accepted yet.

The Congress and the Janata Dal Secular had entered a post-poll alliance in 2018 after the BJP emerged as the single-largest party in the assembly elections. The coalition government has been wobbly from the start, with legislators of both the parties attacking each other on many occasions.

The coalition faced a crushing defeat in the national election in May, bagging only two out of the 28 seats.

Earlier this week, two Congress legislators, Anand Singh and Ramesh Jarkiholi had resigned, bringing the ruling coalition of the JDS and the Congress down to 116. With this, a total of 13 lawmakers have resigned as of now. The coalition will crash if two more lawmakers quit.

Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and Mr Shivakumar have called an emergency meeting of legislators and corporators.

With inputs from ANI