The Congress-JD(S) coalition government in Karnataka will face a trust vote in the Legislative Assembly at 11 AM today. Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy will seek to prove the majority of his government by moving the confidence motion, as announced by Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar.
The opposition BJP had also moved a no-confidence motion, but the Speaker allowed the trust vote as the motion was moved first by the Chief Minister.
The fate of 13-month old Kumaraswamy government hangs in balance as the rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs refused to yield after Supreme Court held yesterday that they cannot be compelled to attend the assembly session.
Armed with the court order, the rebel Congress-JDS MLAs camping in Mumbai said there is no question of stepping back on their resignations or attending the session.
As many as 16 MLAs – 13 from the Congress and three from
JD(S) – have resigned, while two independent MLAs R Shankar and H Nagesh have withdrawn their support to the coalition government.
The ruling coalition’s strength is 117 in the 225-member House. If the resignations of the 16 MLAs are accepted, the ruling coalition’s tally will plummet to 101, reducing the Kumaraswamy government to a minority.
On the other hand, the opposition BJP has 107 MLAs including two independents who extended their support to the party recently.
Ruling coalition has issued Whip to its MLAs warning that anti-defection law will be applied on those who absent themselves during the trust vote.
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