Bengaluru: Karnataka stared at a constitutional crisis on Thursday after Governor Vajubhai Vala directed embattled Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to seek a trust vote and prove his majority at the latest by 1.30 pm on Friday, hours after the Legislative Assembly adjourned without voting on the confidence motion moved by the CM on Thursday morning.
It remains to be seen if Mr Kumaraswamy will obey the directive going by the depleted numbers he has on his side — as many as 15 Congress and JD(S) MLAs have resigned and have made it clear that they have no intention of returning to Bengaluru to participate in the trust vote proceedings virtually reducing the coalition government to a minority.
One Congress MLA — former home minister Ramalinga Reddy return-ed to the Congress fold on Wednesday and has decla-red that he will withdraw his resignation and back the coalition.
However, the JD(S)-Congress combine suffered yet another blow on Thursday when Kagawad Congress MLA Srimant Patil got himself admitted to a hospital in Mumbai, claiming he was suffering from chest pain, after making his exit from a resort in Bengaluru where Congress legislators have been lodged.
Though the Congress lodged a police complaint claiming he had been kidnapped by a former BJP MLA to prevent him from participating in the voting on the trust vote, Mr Patil, in a video released later in the day, asserted that he developed chest pain suddenly because of which he had to rush to a Mumbai hospital for treatment. He said he has been regularly visiting the hospital for treatment.
BJP to move apex court today?
Will senior leaders of the state unit of BJP knock on the doors of the Supreme Court on Friday in the light of delay in the motion of confidence, moved by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy being put to vote in the Legislative Assembly?
A senior legislator observed that as soon as BJP state leaders got a whiff of delaying tactics being adopted by the ruling coalition, they got in touch with central leaders of the party who in turn sought the help of legal luminaries. Based on their suggestion, they drafted a petition which was subsequently submitted to Governor Vajubhai Vala, seeking his intervention in expediting the process of voting. "We are discussing the possibility of moving the apex court as it is evident that the Speaker will not complete these proceedings till directions are issued by the apex court," the legislator added. Mr Vala instructed the CM to complete the proceedings by Friday1.30 pm.
