Picture : Twitter / ANI
The political situation in Karnataka continues to remain tense as the embattled Janata Dal-Secular-Congress coalition government in Karnataka ignored the Governor’s deadline twice for proving the majority on the floor of the state assembly, setting off a constitutional crisis and a fresh legal battle.
As the assembly failed to take up the voting on the confidence motion to decide the fate of the 14-month-old government, the unending political drama sparked by the resignation of 15 MLAs of the ruling coalition a fortnight ago is set to spill over to next week with Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar adjourning the House till Monday.
All eyes are now on Governor Vajubhai Vala on his next course of action.
Before adjourning the house towards the fag end of the day, the Speaker made it clear that a finality would be put to the motion of confidence moved by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday and the matter would not be prolonged further under any circumstances, to which the government agreed.
Kumaraswamy and the Congress moved the Supreme Court accusing the governor of interfering with the assembly proceedings when the debate on the trust vote was underway and sought clarification on its July 17 order causing hindrance in issuing whip to the legislators.
The court had held that the MLAs cannot be compelled to participate in the assembly proceedings.
Kumaraswamy told the apex court that the governor cannot dictate the House on the manner in which the debate of confidence motion has to take place
In his second missive to Kumaraswamy, the governor expressed his “prima facie satisfaction” that the government has lost its majority confidence of the house.
“When the allegations of horse-trading are widely made and I am receiving many complaints, it is constitutionally imperative that the floor test be completed without any delay and today itself.
“I, therefore, require you to prove your majority and complete and conclude the floor test procedure today,” Vala told Kumaraswamy in the second letter since Thursday.
