Bengaluru: As the political imbroglio continued in Karnataka, Senior Congress leaders on July 13 began backchannel negotiations to persuade the disgruntled MLAs, who have resigned from the Assembly, dealing a blow to the coalition government.

A day after Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy made a surprise announcement in the Assembly that he would seek a trust vote, efforts were intensified to reach out to the dissident legislators.

Congress's troubleshooter and Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar reached the residence of Housing Minister M T B Nagaraj at about 5 AM and camped there for almost four-and-a-half hours, trying to pacify him.

According to reports, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara too reached Nagaraj's house to convince him to withdraw the resignation.

As the political imbroglio continued in Karnataka, Senior Congress leaders on July 13 began backchannel negotiations to persuade the disgruntled MLAs, who have resigned from the Assembly, dealing a blow to the coalition government.

A day after Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy made a surprise announcement in the Assembly that he would seek a trust vote, efforts were intensified to reach out to the dissident legislators.

Congress's troubleshooter and Water Resources Minister D K Shivakumar reached the residence of Housing Minister M T B Nagaraj at about 5 AM and camped there for almost four-and-a-half hours, trying to pacify him.

According to reports, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara too reached Nagaraj's house to convince him to withdraw the resignation.

Besides, two Independent legislators, who were made ministers recently to provide stability to the government, have quit the ministry and withdrawn their support to it.

The ruling coalition's total strength is 116 (Congress-78, JD(S)-37 and BSP-1), besides the Speaker.

With the support of the two Independents, the BJP has 107 MLAs in the 224-member House.

If the resignations of the 16 MLAs are accepted, the coalition's tally will be reduced to 100.

The Speaker too has a vote.