The trust vote to decide the fate of the wobbly 14-month old JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka did not take place on Thursday as the Assembly was adjourned till Friday amid acrimonious exchanges that culminated in opposition BJP members starting an overnight 'dharna' inside the House.
As the day's developments had its moment of high drama and twists and turns both inside and outside the House, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy moved the motion of confidence in his government that has been wracked by rebellion by a section of its MLAs threatening its survival for nearly two weeks.
The drama unfolded right from the word go as Kumaraswamy hit by the en masse resignation of 16 ruling coalition MLAs moved a one-line motion, saying the House expressed confidence in his ministry.
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.
The House that barely focussed on the debate on the motion witnessed three adjournments, acrimony and repeated disruptions by belligerent slogan shouting Congress members before the proceedings were wound up for the day.
Before it was adjourned, BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa declared his party members would stay put in the House itself overnight and even till the time the trust vote was decided.
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"We will stay until the trust vote is decided," Yeddyurappa said after the BJP, exasperated over the delay in taking up the voting, also rushed a delegation to Governor Vajubhai Vala to ask Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar to conclude the trust vote process by the end of the day itself.
Acting swiftly, Vala asked the Speaker to complete the process of vote of confidence moved by the end of the day. The treasury benches objected to the Governor's communication.
BJP leaders said they were mulling moving the Supreme Court in the light of Thursday's developments.
As many as 16 MLAs -- 13 from the Congress and three from JDS -- had resigned, while independent MLAs R Shankar and H Nagesh have withdrawn their support to the coalition government, putting the Kumaraswamy-led government on the edge.
One Congress member Ramalinga Reddy retracted, saying he would support the government.
The ruling combine's strength is 117-- Congress 78, JD(S) 37, BSP 1, and nominated 1, besides the Speaker.
With the support of the two independents, the opposition BJP has 107 MLAs in the 225-member House, including the nominated MLA and Speaker.
If the resignations of 15 MLAs (12 from Congress and 3 from JDS) are accepted, the ruling coalition's tally will plummet to 101, (excluding the Speaker) reducing the government to a minority.
This is the third motion on trust vote in the assembly after the 2018 assembly polls yielded a fractured mandate with the BJP emerging as the single largest party with 104 seats but failing to mobilise numbers.
Yeddyurappa had resigned as CM after being in office for three days before facing the trust vote in May last year.
Kumaraswamy who succeeded him had won the trust vote after forming the coalition government.
Adding to the worries of the ruling coalition, another Congress MLA Shreemant Patil was not seen in the House, in the midst of reports he has been admitted in a Mumbai hospital.
At one point, Congress members carrying pictures of Patil rushed towards the well of the House shouting slogans "Down Down BJP" and "down down operation Kamala (lotus)" to bring down the government.
BSP MLA Mahesh, on whose support the coalition was counting, also did not show up, amid reports he was keeping away as he has not received any directions from the party leader Mayawati on the stand to be taken on the trust vote.
Seeking the trust vote, Kumaraswamy said the rebel MLAs had cast doubts about the coalition government across the country and "we have to tell the truth."
"The entire nation is watching the developments unfolding in Karnataka."