BENGALURU: The climax for the current political crisis in Karnataka is nearing with Chief minister HD Kumaraswamy all set to seek a trust vote on Thursday. After consultations with leader of opposition BS Yeddyurappa, Karnataka assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar zeroed in on Thursday as D-day for Kumaraswamy to move a motion of confidence to prove his majority in the floor of the house.
On Friday, the first day of the state's monsoon session, chief minister Kumaraswamy had sought to move for a confidence motion given the uncertainty being expressed about his government and a spree of resignations by Congress-JDS MLAs.
In a business advisory committee meeting held on Monday afternoon, the date for a floor test was decided upon. With petitions filed by rebel MLAs pending before the Supreme Court coming up for hearing on Tuesday, the floor test will be held on Thursday. Kumaraswamy will move the motion of confidence at 11 AM on July 18. After debate on the same, the Speaker will call for a floor test to gauge the support the coalition has.
As of now, with 18 MLAs having submitted their resignations, the coalition numbers stand at 101 while the BJP has the support of 107 MLAs. Kumaraswamy will have to prove majority in the house based on the number of MLAs who are present on the day of trust vote inside the house.
BJP maintained the government had been reduced to "a minority" with the 16 coalition MLAs resigning their assembly membership and hence opposed conduct of House business till the trust vote.
Kumaraswamy continued to remain confident his government would get over the crisis.
"I have full confidence. why do you worry," he told reporters here in response to a question as the coalition struggled to shore up its numbers brought down by the MLAs' resignations.
Senior Congress legislators said they have got more time to continue their efforts to mollify the rebel MLAs.
Keeping up pressure on the Speaker and government, BJP also sought to move a no-confidence motion against the over 13-month old Kumaraswamy ministry with its members J C Madhu Swamy, K G Bopaiah and C M Udasi submitting a notice, but later agreed to the trust vote schedule.
The Speaker's announcement after the assembly's Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting came even as the Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear a plea of five more rebel Congress MLAs along with the pending petition of 10 legislators seeking a direction to him to accept their resignations.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi took note of the submission of senior advocate Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for the five rebel MLAs that they also be made parties to the pending petition, which is to be heard on Tuesday.
Passing interim orders on petitions by the 10 rebel MLAs, the apex court had on July 12 restrained the Speaker from taking any decision till Tuesday on their resignation and disqualification.
The numbers game
The ruling coalition's total strength is 116 (Congress-78, JD(S)-37 and BSP-1), besides the Speaker.
With the support of the two independents, the BJP has 107 MLAs in the 224-member House, where the half-way mark is 113.
If the resignations of the 16 MLAs are accepted, the coalition's tally will be reduced to 100.
(With PTI inputs)