Karnataka Floor Test Highlights: No Trust Vote Today; BJP MLAs To Stage Overnight Dharna in House
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Background
Karnataka Political Crisis: Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Thursday moved a confidence motion in the Assembly as the fortnight-long political drama in the state headed for a climax on the fate of the Congress-JDS government. Facing a truncated strength caused by the en masse resignation of 16 ruling coalition MLAs, Kumaraswamy moved a one-line motion, saying the House expressed confidence in the 14-month old ministry headed by him. Seeking the trust vote, Kumaraswamy said the rebel MLAs had cast doubts about the coalition government across the country and "we have to tell the truth."
As soon as the motion was moved, opposition BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa stood up and said the trust vote process should be completed in a single day. BJP is reportedly apprehensive that the ruling
coalition might try to get the debate prolonged as much as possible to buy time in its last ditch effort to shore up numbers before the voting is taken up.
Adding to the worries of the ruling coalition, another Congress lawmaker Shreemant Patil was not seen in the House, amid reports that he has been admitted in a hospital in Mumbai, where 12 rebel MLAs are corralled in a hotel. Also, BSP MLA Mahesh, on whose support the ruling coalition was counting, also did not turn up in the House, amid reports that he was keeping away as he has not received any directions from the party leader Mayawati on the stand to be taken on the trust vote.
In a relief a day ahead of the trial of strength, senior Congress legislator Ramalinga Reddy said he would be with the Congress and support the government during the trust vote. As Kumaraswamy began his speech after moving the motion, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah raised a point of order concerning the Supreme Court order on the Karnataka political crisis on Wednesday, saying it had infringed upon his right to issue the whip.
He said the apex court had made no mention about the whip but said 15 rebel MLAs could not be compelled to participate in the session and the option was left to them to decide. "It (court order) infringes on my right to give a whip under the 10th schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law)," he said.
Siddaramaiah's intervention led to frequent heated exchanges between the BJP and Congress members. BJP members alleged that the issues raised by Siddaramaiah were an attempt to prolong the debate and delay the trust vote. Congress and BJP MLAs who were sequestered in resorts in the city fearing poaching by the rival camps were herded together and brought in buses just before the assembly began its proceedings.
Congress and BJP MLAs who were sequestered in resorts in the city fearing poaching by the rival camps were herded together and brought in buses just before the assembly began its proceedings. Ahead of the crucial confidence vote to be sought by Kumaraswamy, BJP state president Yeddyurappa exuded confidence that the motion would be defeated.
If the resignations of the 15 MLAs (12 from Congress and 3 from JDS) are accepted, the ruling coalition's tally will plummet to 101, (excluding the Speaker) reducing the 14 month-old Kumaraswamy government to a minority. This is the third motion on trust vote in the assembly after the 2018 assembly polls yielded a fractured mandate with the BJP emerging as the single largest party with 104 seats but failing to mobilise numbers.
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