With Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy speaking of seeking a trust vote, the BJP in Karnataka is confident that the rebel MLAs who have submitted their resignations will not vote in favuor of the current regime.
“There is no chance that the rebel MLAs of the JD(S)-Congress coalition who are residing in the Mumbai hotel will come to the House to vote when the trust vote takes place. Leave the issues with regards to resignation or disqualification, we are sure they are not going to come here,” senior BJP MLA CT Ravi told TNM on Friday.
“Even if the trust vote does not take place, we will have three more MLAs on our side,” he added.
The statement from Ravi came soon after the CM raised eyebrows talking about the trust vote himself minutes after the Supreme Court giving him a breather of sorts ordering status quo till Tuesday in the matter concerning the resignation of 10 rebel MLAs.
Speaking to the media, Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar said that he had received Chief Minister Kumaraswamy’s official petition to move a trust vote in the Assembly. Ramesh Kumar said that he would consult with the Leader of Opposition BS Yeddyurappa on Monday and fix a date for the trust vote.
Incidentally, speaking to reporters on Thursday, Minister Krishna Byre Gowda had also claimed the government was ready to prove majority on the flood of the House on Friday itself.
The crisis began after 13 MLAs - 10 Congress and 3 JD(S) - with the coalition submitted their resignations to the Speaker's office last Saturday. The disgruntled legislators met with the Governor and informed him of their decision to resign.
Many of the MLAs were flown out to Sofitel Hotel in Mumbai. On July 8, Independent MLA H Nagesh withdrew support from the coalition and KPJP MLA R Shankar also withdrew support. Earlier this month, MLA Anand Singh had also resigned. On Wednesday, MLAs Dr K Sudhankar and MTB Nagaraj also regined, taking the number of rebelling legislators to 18.