The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government in Karnataka on Friday breached the Governor’s deadline of 1.30 pm to prove its majority in the Assembly, saying that it was bound to listen to the Speaker.
Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala had on Thursday written to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy asking him to prove majority of the government on the floor of the House by 1:30 pm today.
“The Chief Minister has failed to prove majority by 1.30 p.m. on Friday as asked by the Governor,” Opposition BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa told Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar in the House and pressed for conducting floor test on the confidence motion that Kumaraswamy moved on Thursday.
However, Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar said that unless the discussion is complete, the floor test cannot be taken up.
He further said that it was the chief minister who has to decide if the Governor’s order is to be followed as it was sent to him.
CM Kumaraswamy, during the debate on trust vote, accused the BJP of trying to destroy democracy.
The Governor on Wednesday said that since 17 MLAs have withdrawn their support to the coalition government, the Kumaraswamy government had prima facie lost the majority.
This was the Governor’s second letter on the trust vote. His first to Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar earlier on Thursday had been ignored after members of the ruling coalition government protested the intervention by the state’s governor in proceedings of the House.
“The fact that 15 members have met me and tendered their resignations and coupled with 2 members have withdrawn their support and other attendant circumstances do prima facie indicate that you have lost majority/confidence of the House,” Governor Vajubhai Vala told Kumaraswamy in the letter.
In the letter, the Governor said that he had received a memorandum from the BJP delegation stating that the government was unnecessarily dragging the issue of Vote of Confidence and had stalled and consequently adjourned without reaching any finality.
The BJP MLAs had dinner and slept over at the Assembly after protesting against CM Kumaraswamy for trying to “delay” the trust vote.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka Congress said that it will move the Supreme Court against Governor Vajubhai Vala since he cannot interfere in the matter of the Speaker.
“I think the Congress party will go to the Supreme Court because Governor cannot interfere in the matter of Speaker; he has no right to do it. Governor is arbitrarily interfering and trying to work as an agent of a party,” Karnataka Congress MP, Nasir Hussain told ANI.
Eighteen legislators were absent from the House as it took up the vote of confidence for debate earlier on Friday.
Meanwhile, Congress leader and former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said that since the discussion was not complete and with 20 members yet to participate in the debate, the trust vote may not happen today and might continue on Monday.
The Congress-JD(S) coalition government is under threat of being reduced to a minority as 15 of their MLAs resigned from the assembly while two independents too withdrew their support to the alliance and aligned with the BJP.