For the third day running, the Karnataka assembly assembly debated the confidence motion moved by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy with the Congress insisting that it not be put to vote till the chair decides on the resignations submitted by the rebel MLAs to the House.
Right from the time when the proceedings began, Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar repeatedly reminded the government to honour its commitment to complete the trust process Monday itself.
As the House resumed its sitting after an hour's delay, the Speaker made it clear, "Everybody is watching us. Please don't make me a scapegoat. Let us reach our goal," stressing that the process should reach finality Monday.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had moved the confidence motion on Thursday to decide the fate of the Congress-JDS government, rocked by rebellion by a section of its MLAs threatening its survival.
The debate on the confidence motion prolonged to Friday, with the ruling coalition defying the two deadlines set by Governor Vajubhai Vala -- to complete the process by 1.30 PM on Friday and later by the end of the day.
The proceedings were adjourned till Monday after the Speaker extracted a commitment from the government that the process would be completed by Monday itself.
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"It will not bring respect to the House or to me," the Speaker made his position clear, implying that the trust vote should not be delayed further, amid reports that the ruling coalition had sought two more days time for voting.
"We are in public life. People are watching. In the name of discussion, if an opinion is created that we are wasting time, it won't be right on my part or anybody else's," he said.
The Congress' position was stated during the debate on the confidence motion by senior Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who said that taking up the voting without the Speaker's decision on the resignation issue would leave the confidence motion process without any sanctity.
"We are in an extraordinary situation... I request the chair to decide on the resignation first. Or else, it will (confidence vote) will have no standing," Gowda said, as the debate on the trust vote dragged on for the third day.
"Is the resignation voluntary and genuine. Aren't they against democracy?" he asked.
Mounting an attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre, Gowda charged that there was a "systematic effort" to eliminate the "political opposition" in the country and the operation in Karnataka by BJP was part of such an attempt.
Alleging that there was an "undeclared emergency" in the country, Gowda told the BJP, "the blood of democracy is on your hands."
The BJP ran a hashtag in Kannada, "people of the state will not forgive you."