BENGALURU: The day ISRO's Chandrayaan took off, the Karnataka assembly seemed to be suspended in a timeless space too -- before the prospect of a near-mythical trust vote.
Would it happen or not? The Speaker's word that it won't get delayed beyond Monday did not seem to hold good as the assembly sat till the late hours debating whether to vote or not.
A fake letter of resignation, inordinate delays and adjournments, a closed canteen, complaints of hunger, the lack of vegetables, diabetic MLAs...everything became a reason to postpone, or not.
It was not before 11.30 PM that a teary-eyed Speaker Ramesh Kumar adjourned the House with a fresh deadline to conclude Trust vote process before 6 PM on Tuesday amid opposition by the BJP.
"I deeply hurt that I am unable to keep up my word. I am, however, willing to swallow this pain," said Ramesh Kumar before adjourning the House much to the dismay of BJP camp. The coalition camp, although agitated with the extended session, was glad that the floor test was put off by another day.
For three days now, the legislative assembly has been discussing issues, both relevant and irrelevant to the confidence motion moved by the chief minister- but there is no sign of a trust vote.
Despite assurances by the Congress legislature party chief Siddaramaiah and Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy of completing the proceedings by end of day on Monday, the session was marred by delays, continued protests and disruptions.
A 10-minute adjournment extending into a two-hour break was just one of the many delays that Monday's session witnessed.
It was a day of delays with the assembly session itself starting an hour later than scheduled. Discussions went on till 11.30 PM amid protests by coalition MLAs to adjourn the House citing 'dinner and diabetes' as matters of concern.
As BJP insisted that they are willing to sit all night for the trust vote Congress-JDS MLAs insisted on an adjournment.
Utter chaos was witnessed late on Monday night with a few members of the treasury benches exiting the assembly even as it was in session, unable to bear hunger pangs.
"This is unfair. We can see through this charade. We will not accept another adjournment. This fixing is unacceptable," yelled Madhuswamy of the BJP as Speaker adjourned the House.
The debate on the motion of confidence was started by Krishna Byregowda on Monday, two days after the CM moved the confidence motion. While the coalition has listed more than 20 speakers to give their opinion on the confidence motion, barely seven completed their speeches.
As the BJP sat patiently through allegations of horse-trading, luring MLAs and destabilising the government, the coalition asked what the hurry was for the trust vote.
"Many of our members have to talk. What is the hurry if you have the numbers? How does today or tomorrow matter? Let the chief minister as well as Siddaramaiah debate on Tuesday and let us have the trust vote then," said KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao even as the BJP insisted that they want the trust vote on Monday.
The coalition hopes that the Supreme Court's order in the matter pending before it concerning 11 rebel MLAs will bring it some relief. A confident BJP was reduced to an agitated grumpy lot with the trust vote being delayed once again.
Coalition MLAs took turns to accuse the BJP of engineering the conspiracy to destabilise the government, providing evidence from media reports of BJP's involvement in the MLAs' resignation and shifting to Mumbai.
"BJP is murdering democracy in Karnataka. This is nothing short of an assault on democracy. Let me tell them, the blood of democracy is on their hands. I appeal to these MLAs too that they still have time to make corrections," said Krishna Byregowda.
Ironically, Krishna Byregowda baited the media accusing it of turning a blind eye to BJP's antics even as he based his entire argument of the BJP's conspiracy on media reports.
It wasn't just cabinet minister but even Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy deemed it fit to blame the media.
"Channels are already running news that I have met the Governor and have submitted my resignation. A fake letter is also doing the rounds with my alleged signature. I do not understand who is in a teething hurry for my resignation," HD Kumaraswamy said losing his cool on the floor of the House for the first time in three days.
Despite the BJP'S insistence that the trust vote be held, the discussions on the same refused to die down with the Speaker now setting a new deadline.