Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Friday said that he was ready for a trust vote in light of the recent political crisis in the state. Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar is expected to set a time and date for the exercise.
Speaking on the floor of the Assembly, Kumaraswamy said, “Today there is turmoil in our state. Legislators are rebelling. I have not come here to become the CM forever. I know that I can't. In the current situation, I feel it's necessary that I move for a trust vote. I request you to grant me appropriate time for it.”
“If the Speaker permits, I am ready to prove majority in the House,” he added.
Kumaraswamy's speech comes just minutes after the Supreme Court gave the ruling coalition a much-needed breather. The SC bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi ordered that status quo be maintained in the case pertaining to the resignation and disqualification of 10 members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The next hearing in the case is on Tuesday.
It comes as a surprise that the Chief Minister is seeking a trust vote since the Karnataka government is on shaky ground. Sixteen MLAs of the coalition including three JD(S) MLAs and 13 Congress MLAs have so far submitted their resignation letters to the Speaker.
The Speaker is set to meet three MLAs – Anand Singh, Pratapgouda Patil, and Narayan Gowda – on Friday afternoon and has also set up a meeting with two other rebel MLAs Ramalinga Reddy and Gopalaiah on Monday. He is yet to set up meetings with other MLAs and told the Supreme Court that he needs to time examine the resignations of the MLAs.
Further complicating the situation is the fact that the Congress has moved a petition before the Speaker asking him to disqualify two rebel MLAs – Ramesh Jarkiholi and Mahesh Kumathalli.
The rebel MLAs have decided to skip the first day of the monsoon session of the Karnataka Assembly.