Bengaluru, January 15: The political crisis in Karnataka intensified on Tuesday, with two independent MLAs, H Nagesh and R Shankar, announcing the withdrawal of their support to the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in the state. The two legislators have cited the alleged misgovernance in the state for their decision to pull out.

Shankar, while speaking to reporters today, confirmed that he, along with Nagesh, would be siding with the Opposition camp led by the BJP. He claimed that only the saffron party could provide a stable government to the state, adding that constant "power tussle" between the Congress and the JD(S) has prevented Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy from effectively discharging his duty. Karnataka: BJP Trying to Topple Congress-JDS Government? Here's The Number Game.

"Today is Makar Sankranti, on this day we want a change in the govt. The government should be efficient, so I am withdrawing my support today," he told news agency.

“My support to coalition government was to provide a good and stable government which utterly failed. There’s no understanding among coalition partners. So, I decided to go with BJP to install stable government and see that government performs better than the coalition," added Shankar, who represents the Ranebennur constituency in the Karnataka legislative assembly.

The apparent horse-trading bid in Karnataka was re-initiated last week, senior Congress leader DK Shivakumar alleging that the 5 Congress MLAs have been taken to a Mumbai hotel by "senior BJP leaders".

The BJP, on the other hand, levelled poaching charges on the Congress, accusing the latter of attempting to defect the legislators from the Opposition camp. The party has lodged 100 of its 104 MLAs in a hotel in Gurgaon.

The majority-mark in Karnataka assembly is 113, and the Congress-JD(S) combine has 118 legislators in their camp. With 5 Congress MLAs gone missing, the government is reportedly on the edge. CM Kumaraswamy, however, is firm on maintaining the stability of his government. "We have the sufficient numbers. There is nothing to worry about," he said on Monday.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 15, 2019 04:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).