Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala on Friday set a second deadline of 6 pm for the Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JD(S) coalition government to prove majority in the Assembly.
The Governor, again in a letter to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, asked the government to prove its majority on the floor of the House by 6 pm today.
This is the Governor’s third letter on the trust vote.
Following the second deadline, Kumaraswamy said that he has respect for the Governor, but that the second “love” letter had hurt him.
“I have respect for the Governor. But the second love letter from the Governor has hurt me. He only came to know about horse-trading 10 days ago?” Kumaraswamy asked.
He also showed photos of BS Yeddyurappa’s PA Santosh, reportedly boarding a plane with independent MLA H Nagesh.
He further requested the Speaker to protect him from the letter sent by the Governor.
“I leave the decision on the floor test to you (the Speaker). It won’t be directed by Delhi. I request you to protect me from the letter sent by the Governor,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the government breached the Governor’s deadline of 1.30 pm to prove its majority.
Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar had said that unless the discussion is complete, the floor test cannot be taken up.
The Governor on Thursday said that since 17 MLAs have withdrawn their support to the coalition government, the Kumaraswamy government had prima facie lost the majority.
He further 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.
Prior to Thursday’s letter, the Governor’s first to the Speaker earlier on Thursday was ignored after members of the ruling coalition government protested the intervention by the state’s governor in proceedings of the House.
The BJP MLAs had dinner and slept over at the Assembly after protesting against CM Kumaraswamy for trying to “delay” the trust vote.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Congress President Dinesh Gundu Rao moved the Supreme Court on Friday, claiming that its July 17 order violated the party’s right to issue a whip to its MLAs.
The court had said that 15 MLAs from the Congress and JD-S cannot be compelled to participate in the House proceedings.
Earlier, 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 teetering on the verge of collapse as 15 of their MLAs resigned from the assembly while two independents too withdrew their support to the alliance and aligned with the BJP.