Trust Vote: Karnataka Assembly Adjourned Till Friday Amid Uproar

The Karnataka assembly was adjourned till Friday morning amid acrimony during the debate on the motion of confidence moved by chief minister HD Kumaraswamy to decide the fate of his 14-month-old government.

A view of an Assembly Session at Vidhana Soudha, in Bengaluru. PTI Photo

BENGALURU: The Karnataka assembly was adjourned till Friday morning amid acrimony during the debate on the motion of confidence moved by chief minister HD Kumaraswamy to decide the fate of his 14-month-old government. The House was adjourned by Deputy Speaker Krishna Reddy as the Congress members persistently shouted slogans against the BJP as the proceedings wore on with Kumaraswamy yet to make his speech on the motion. Before the House was adjourned, BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa declared that his party members would stay put in the House itself overnight and even till the time the trust vote was decided. "We will stay until the trust vote is decided," Yeddyurappa declared. He said the confidence motion was not even discussed properly for 15 minutes and other issues were brought in by the ruling coalition members to delay the trust vote. "There has been a breach of constitutional framework," he said, adding that it was unparalleled. "To protest against this, we will sleep here itself," Yeddyurappa said. Though Kumaraswamy moved the confidence motion at 11am and began speaking on it, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah raised a point of order on the Supreme Court's order that the 15 rebel members of the ruling allies were not compelled to attend the session and the party's whip will not be applicable on them to defy it. As Siddaramaiah took time to debate on the issue and other party members intervened to prolong it, ostensibly to delay the floor test, many restive BJP members protested the dilatory tactics of the ruling allies and urged the Speaker to hold the trust vote immediately, as it was getting latte and the House will resume the session only on Monday with a 2-day weekend break. With about 20 legislators, including 15 rebels, 2 Congress members Srimanth Patil and B. Nagendra, 2 Independents (R. Shankar and H. Nagesh) and 1 BSP (N. Mahesh) abstaining from the Assembly, the BJP members accused the ruling allies of deliberately delaying the floor test fearing imminent defeat in the absence of numbers or majority. (With inputs from agencies)