The beleaguerd Janata Dal (S)-Congress coalition government, led by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, will face its trust vote in the state Assembly on Thursday, a day after the Supreme Court said that the rebel MLAs could not be compelled to attend the session. The vote may not happen today as the debate is expected to stretch over a day or two.
The state has been simmering since July 7 when 16 MLAs — 13 from the Congress and three from JD(S) — resigned, pushing the Congress-JD(S) coalition government to the brink of collapse. This was followed by several twists and turns with rebel MLAs holed up in Mumbai and Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar ‘deliberating’ on their resignations. The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that neither the Speaker can be forced to take early decision nor the rebel MLAs be forced to attend the session.
An air of uncertainty hangs over the session in the backdrop of the top court’s interim order. The discussion on the vote of confidence is scheduled to start around 11 am in the Assembly.
Meanwhile, Congress leaders engaged in number crunching believe that only two of the rebel MLAs need to vote for them for the government to stay afloat.
Congress’s rebel MLA Ramalinga Reddy has already announced his decision to vote for the coalition and the party is expecting Roshan Baig, Anand Singh and Sudhakar to also vote for the ruling coalition.
This would bring the numbers at par to 105 each side in the House of 224 (one member is nominated). The ruling coalition would then need only two of the rebels to vote for them or two BJP MLAs to cross vote, according to the source.
Kumaraswamy on Wednesday issued a whip to all 37 MLAs of JD(S) including three rebel legislators Narayana Gowda, Gopalaiah and H Vishwanath to be present in the Assembly at the time of trust vote.
Kumaraswamy has warned that if MLAs do not attend the House and of if they vote against the party whip even after attending the session on the day of trust voting, action will be initiated under the rule of Anti-Defection Law and that MLA will be disqualified from his post.
Kumaraswamy had on sought permission from Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar to face a floor test during the ongoing session of the Assembly.
The state Assembly has 225 members, including one nominated MLA. The halfway mark in the 225-member Assembly is 113.
Also, after many failed attempts JD(S) leader Syed Shahid on Thursday managed to enter the Mumbai hotel where the rebel MLAs are holed up and held talks with them.