AGENCIES / BANGALURU
The ruling JDS-Congress government in Karnataka has urged the Speaker to postpone the confidence motion. During the confidence motion, Legislature Party Leader Siddaramaiah raised a point of order requesting the speaker to defer the trust vote as the interim Supreme Court order on the petition filed by rebel legislators lacked clarity.
After a lengthy discussion on point of order the Speaker adjourned house till 3 PM for lunch break.
Meanwhile, BJP leader C.T.Ravi said that the trust vote was unlikely today, as the coalition partners had planned to delay the same. Speaking to reporters, he said though the Congress-JDS government did not have the numbers, they have decided to prolong the trust vote.
Another BJP leader Jagadish Shettar said his party memebrs have submitted a memorandum to Governor Vajubhai Vala, requesting him to direct the speaker to go ahead with the trust vote and not allow discussion on other issues.
Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala has sent a message to Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar to consider trust vote by the end of the day. The message was read by the Speaker in the House, who added that the motion of confidence moved is already under consideration of the House.
Earlier, BJP leaders submitted a memorandum to the Governor, requesting him to direct the speaker to go ahead with the trust vote and not allow discussion on any other issue.
Meanwhile, senior Congress Leader R.V.Deshpande said the Constitution does not provide for Governor’s request and it is not as per rules. Another Congress leader H.K.Patil said the Governor might not have sent a direction, it might be a wrongly sent message, and this amounts to interference in the proceedings of the House.
During the confidence motion, Water Resource Minister D.K.Sivakumar alleged that Kagwad Congress MLA Shrimant Patil was forcefully admitted to a hospital in Mumbai to skip the assembly.