Prove majority by 1.30 pm, Governor tells K’taka CM

Bengaluru, July 18

A new political showdown loomed in Karnataka as the Governor on Thursday night set a timeline and asked Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy to prove his majority before 1.30 pm on Friday, hours after a trust vote could not take place with the Speaker adjourning the House proceedings. 

As opposition BJP members starting an overnight ‘dharna’ inside the House, Governor Vajubhai Vala gave the timeline to CM Kumaraswamy, observing that resignation of 15 MLAs of the ruling JD(S)-Congress and withdrawal of support by two Independents “prima facie” indicated he has lost the confidence of the House.

“Though a message as contemplated under Article 175 (2) is sent to the Speaker, I'm informed that the House is adjourned today. Under these circumstances, I request you to prove your majority on the floor of the House on or before 1.30 pm tomorrow (Friday),” Vala said in a letter to the CM.

As the day’s developments had its moment of high drama and twists and turns both inside and outside the House, Kumaraswamy moved the motion of confidence in his wobbly 14-month-old government that has been wracked by rebellion by a section of its MLAs threatening its survival for nearly two weeks.

Twenty lawmakers did not turn up on Thursday, including 17 from the ruling coalition, 12 of whom are holed up in a hotel in Mumbai, as the House debated the motion in a surcharged atmosphere. — PTI

His first missive ignored by Speaker 

This (timeline) is the Governor’s second letter on the trust vote. His first to Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar earlier in the day had been ignored after members of the ruling Congress-JD(S) government protested his interference in House proceedings.