BENGALURU: Congress MLAs Anand Singh (Vijayanagar) and Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak) resigned from the Karnataka Assembly on Monday, barely 48 after Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy left for the United States on a private trip to open a temple built by community members.Singh MLA said he was resigning in protest against the government decision to sell land to JSW Steel in Sandur taluk of Ballari district at low prices, and to protect the interests of people of his constituency.Jarkiholi , who had earlier announced he would resign but not specified when, sent in his resignation letter by fax from Mumbai, precipitating the political crisis in Karnataka.Singh has placed a few demands before the government, and said he would consider withdrawing his resignation if the government accepted those demands. Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar said the decision related to sale of land to JSW Group was first taken by BS Yeddyurappa when he was the CM, and that he was shocked by Singh's decision to resign.Sections of the disgruntled Congress MLAs are said to have become active soon after the CM left Bengaluru. Some of them have been planning to join hands with the BJP for some time, but have not been able to move forward for want of a signal from the BJP leadership.CM Kumaraswamy in a tweet from the US said he was closely watching the developments back home and that the BJP would not succeed in its attempts to overthrow his government.Opposition BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa said, "I know about 20 MLAs are unhappy, and the government's future hinges on their decision. Let them come out first we will see."He said the BJP would not make any attempt to destabilise the government, but would form the next government. if the Congress-JD(S) coalition falls.Last month’s Cabinet’s expansion has left a section of Congress MLAs unhappy as they were jockeying for a Cabinet position, or at least chairmanship of a Board or a Corporation. Quite a few MLAs have switched off their mobile phones.Two other MLAs who are close to Jarkiholi, B.Nagendra (Ballari Rural) and Mahesh Kumathalli (Athani) are also said to be planning to put in their papers. JN Ganesh (Kampli) and BC Patil (Hirekerur) too have been sitting on the fence. Patil had been an aspirant for a Cabinet berth, but he has been missing the bus.The CM added two independents to his Cabinet last month to save the regime from external shocks.The Congress had, in recent months, been postponing the Cabinet expansion on one pretext or the other fearing rebellion from MLAs and threats to the government’s survival post event.Soon after the BJP returned to power at the Centre with a massive mandate, the JD(S) and the Congress leadership probably were least worried as they saw no visible threats from the BJP. The BJP central leadership, it was thought, is not in a hurry to topple the JD(S)-Congress regime, but it will not prevent if the regime were to fall on its own due to internal fights and conspiracies.