Karnataka: Crucial floor test now scheduled for Thursday

By Manohar Yadavatti

Bengaluru,15 July(HS): The floor test to decide fate of the HD Kumaraswamy led Janata Dal-Secular and Indian National Congress(INC) alliance government is now scheduled on coming Thursday, 18 July and all the stakeholders, including the JD-S, INC and Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) have consented to the Assembly Speaker’s suggestion in this connection.

In fact, the date was ultimately resolved by the concerned parties after a prolonged round of discussions by the speaker KR Rameshkumar. As per the earlier schedule, the lower house was supposed to meet for the day at 12.30 pm. but it took it almost took two hours for it to assemble.

BS Yeddyurappa, leader of opposition in the Assembly was initially insisting to consider his no-confidence motion for discussion today itself. However, HD Kumaraswamy, Chief Minister prevailed upon the former to agree for Thursday as the petitions of 15 MLAs’ is scheduled to come for hearing tomorrow.

After much dilly-dallying between the ruling and opposition party leaders and counselling by speaker KR Rameshkumar, the Business Advisory Committee(BAC) agreed upon to take up discussion on a vote of confidence motion moved by HD Kumaraswamy.

Meanwhile, all the Nine JD-S and INC MLAs’ camping at a Mumbai hotel reiterated their resolve of not withdrawing their resignations to the state Assembly. MTB Nagaraj, Hoskote Congress MLA who appeared to have been roped in by the Congress leaders back to the party fold sprung a surprise by returning to Mumbai Yesterday in a special flight.

Today he held a press conference in the hotel with other dissident legislators and clarified: We have put our papers and there is no second opinion about withdrawing the same and all of us hold the same opinion.

He also made use of the occasion to blast HD Revanna, state PWD Minister and elder brother of HD Kumaraswamy for the present embroiling situation. He never allowed to function independently and in spite of being ministers we didn’t even have the freedom to transfer officials of our departments!, he confessed.

While HD Revanna continued his temple run unabated. Ever since the coalition government got messed up into a fragile condition, the PWD minister has been on barefoot and on temple run. Perhaps he has left no temples worth mentioning so far.

On the other hand R Ramalingareddy, BTM Layout Congress MLA and Gopalaiah, Mahalakshmi Layout Congress MLA, both belonging to the city abstained away from the speaker’s meeting scheduled for the day.

They have intimated the speaker and his office of making it some other day as confirmed by the speaker’s office.

A petition of five more Congress MLAs’ apart from 10 others who have already submitted a plea in this connection has been filed before the apex court by their lawyer Mukul Rohatgi. Now the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear both these petitions apart from the one of the speaker.

All the 15 legislators have submitted before the court their pleas that the speaker is delaying the process of accepting their resignations in spite of presenting the same in person and as per the specified format suggested by the speaker himself.

The speaker has been maintaining that the apex court has no role in directing his decision-making process and has submitted a counter plea in this regard.