Bengaluru, July 12 (IANS) A defiant Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Friday said he was ready to seek trust vote to prove that his JD-S-Congress coalition government had majority in the Assembly.
“I am ready to seek a trust vote to prove my government has majority. I request you fix a date and time to move it in the House,” Kumaraswamy told state Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar as the 10-day Monsoon session of the legislature began here.
Rejecting opposition BJP’s demand for his outster after 16 rebel legislators of the ruling JD-S-Congress resigned and two lawmakers withdrew support, Kumaraswamy said the coalition government was strong despite efforts to de-stabilize it by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Playing down state Tourism Minister and JD-S MLA Sa Ra Mahesh’s meeting with some state BJP leaders at a state guest house here on Thursday night, the Chief Minister said the media should not give much importance to it.
“It is unnecessary to give importance to Mahesh’s casual meeting with (the) BJP leaders at the new building of the Kumara Krupa guest house, managed by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC), which comes under his portfolio,” said Kumaraswamy in another tweet.
Meanwhile, the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) awaits the Supreme Court ruling on the rebel MLAs’ July 10 plea against Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh delaying acceptance of their resignations.
Despite the apex court urging him to decide on the resignations at the earliest, the Speaker on Thursday insisted that he would take a final call on the matter only after hearing all sides. Now a lot depends on the top court’s observations.
A three-member apex court bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, is scheduled to hear the Speaker’s request to the court to modify its July 11 order and give him more time to decide on the resignations of the seven Congress and three JD-S legislators re-submitted on Thursday evening as per its directive.
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