Comments
The motion of confidence (trust vote) in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly was not completed on Thursday as the Congress members expressed concern over the Supreme Court’s interim order related to the issue of whip to rebel MLAs.
The apex court in its interim order on Wednesday had said that the rebel MLAs cannot be compelled to attend the Assembly session.
The House got adjourned as the BJP staged a dharna alleging deviation from taking up the motion of confidence.
Chief Minister Kumaraswamy moved a one-line motion, saying that the House expresses confidence in his ministry.
Opposition BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa demanded the trust vote process should be completed by the end of the day.
Hitting back at Yeddyurappa Kumaraswamy said “the Leader of Opposition seems to be in a hurry”.
The tensed Opposition was apprehensive as the ruling coalition, in order to buy more time, would try to prolong the debate..
Just before the House was adjourned, Kumaraswamy said, “I haven’t yet got time to complete my speech. But the discussion is over Schedule 10. I will not threaten anybody. I’m in no hurry, let us discuss what happened between 2008 and 2013. We haven’t treated MLAs like cattle.”
Meanwhile, the Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah raised a Point of Order and sought clarification on the Supreme Court order on the whip issued to the rebel MLAs.
Siddaramaiah said: “We should approach the Supreme Court and seek a clarification. Until then, taking up the confidence motion will not be right.”
He further said the Supreme Court order has discussed about my rights to issue whip as the CLP leader, but I was not a respondent to present my concerns. As the outcome of anti-defection law has its implications on the no-confidence motion, I request to postpone the motion till we get clarification from the Supreme Court.”
The ruling coalition’s strength in the Assembly is 117 — the Congress 78, the JD(S) 37, the BSP one and one nominated member, besides the Speaker.
With the support of the two independents, the opposition BJP has 107 MLAs in the 225-member House, including the nominated MLA and the Speaker.
If the resignations of the 15 MLAs (12 from Congress and three from JD-S) are accepted, the ruling coalition’s strength may plummet to 101 (excluding speaker).
Governor Intervenes
Meanwhile, Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala wrote to Assembly speaker KR Ramesh Kumar to complete the process of vote of confidence moved by Kumaraswamy by the end of the day.
Earlier, a BJP delegation called on him and requested to direct the speaker to conduct the vote of confidence Thursday itself.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.