A new political showdown loomed in Karnataka as the governor Thursday night set a timeline and asked Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to prove his majority before 1.30 pm Friday, hours after a trust vote could not take place with the Speaker adjourning the day's proceedings in the assembly.
As opposition BJP members starting an overnight 'dharna' inside the House, Governor Vajubhai Vala gave the time-line to 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 Kumaraswamy.
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.
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 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.
"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 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 Congress and three from JDS -- had resigned, while independent MLAs R Shankar and H Nagesh have withdrawn their support to the government, putting it on the edge.
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, 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 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.
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.
As the chief minister sought the trust vote, Congress Legislature Party(CLP) leader Siddaramaiah pressed for deferring the confidence motion till the assembly speaker decided on the issue of whip in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict on the political crisis in the state.
Siddaramaiah said the 15 rebel MLAs who approached the court were influenced by its order that they can abstain from attending the assembly proceedings and asked the Speaker to give a ruling on the fate of whip issued by him as CLP leader.
"If this motion is taken up, then it will not be constitutional. I request you to defer it. I want your ruling on this point of order," Siddaramaiah told the Speaker.
The Speaker then said he would consult the state advocate general and adjourned the House for lunch.
The House was also rocked by trading of charges after Congress alleged that its MLA Shreemant Patil, who suddenly disappeared after being with them at a resort and went incommunicado, had been 'kidnapped' as part of efforts to 'topple' the coalition government.
Senior minister D K Shivakumar said they would produce documents to show that Patil was forcibly admitted to the hospital to skip assembly. However, Patil, in a video message on a social networking site, said no one had kidnapped him.
Congress and BJP MLAs, who were sequestered in resorts in the city fearing poaching by rival camps, were herded together and brought in buses just before the assembly session began.
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