New Delhi: Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, at the centre of a week’s worth of drama and uncertainty for the coalition Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government that he heads, said on Friday that he would seek a trust vote.On the first day of the monsoon session of the Karnataka legislative assembly, Kumaraswamy sought a specific time from the speaker to prove his government’s majority. “I am ready for everything, I am not here to stick to power,” Kumaraswamy was quoted by PTI as having said. Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar said a slot will be allotted for moving the trust motion whenever the chief minister preferred to do so.Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy in Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru: After all these developments, I am seeking your permission & time to prove the majority in this session. #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/olx8BZ90Xx— ANI (@ANI) July 12, 2019His announcement came within minutes of the Supreme Court ordering that the status quo on resignations by rebel MLAs and their disqualification proceedings be maintained by the speaker.Hearing a plea by ten MLAs of the Congress and JD(S) who had alleged that speaker Ramesh Kumar had been deliberately delaying the acceptance of their resignations, the Supreme Court had, on Thursday, given an unusual direction to the speaker to decide on the resignations of all 16 MLAs within the day itself.Ramesh Kumar, however, had withheld his decision, saying that he was not obligated to anyone and moved the Supreme Court seeking a recall of its order, citing that he needed to make sure that all the resignations were voluntary.Fifteen MLAs had resigned over the course of four days starting last Friday and set forth a chain of events which has once again made the position of Karnataka’s coalition government precarious. Accused of horse-trading and engineering the crisis, the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state has repeatedly alleged that the Kumaraswamy government no longer has the majority in the assembly, as a result of the resignations.A man cleans a board bearing a list of all chief ministers of Karnataka, ahead of the beginning of the state Assembly session, at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on July 11. Photo: PTIOn Friday, a bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose said that the case involves issues of substantial importance involving Articles 190 and 361 of the constitution, reported Bar and Bench. Article 190 deals with the disqualification of a legislator or his or her resignation, while Article 361 guarantees that certain position holders are not answerable to the court.The apex court also said that it must deliberate on whether an assembly speaker must decide on disqualification proceedings before accepting the MLAs’ resignations at all.The courtroom saw sufficient mudslinging by high-profile lawyers representing the equally significant parties. While Mukul Rohatgi continued from Thursday on behalf of the rebel MLAs, Rajeev Dhavan represented chief minister Kumaraswamy and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, speaker Ramesh Kumar.While Rohatgi alleged that the speaker’s role in the house was being extended unduly by Ramesh Kumar to manipulate the situation, Singhvi held that the BJP could easily invite these MLAs should it succeed in forming a government in the state, based on their resignations. Singhvi also held that the MLAs were keen on resigning simply to escape disqualification.Also read | Explainer: Do Karnataka Rebel MLAs Have a Case to Press Their Resignation?Faced with Singhvi’s dogged insistence on the speaker’s necessity of verifying resignations within an unspecified timeframe, CJI Gogoi asked him, “Is it your submission that the Supreme Court cannot exercise its jurisdiction?” Singhvi replied that it was not.#KarnatakaPolitics: Is it your submission that Supreme Court cannot exercise its jurisdcition, CJI Gogoi asks Singhvi.No, says Singhvi.“Very well”, Singhvi.— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) July 12, 2019Dhavan said that the MLAs’ urgency is because the Karnataka government has “failed” and not because of the speaker’s involvement. He also held that in the only other case where a speaker was given a timeframe to arrive at a similar decision on the Haryana assembly, the time allotted was four months.In the course of his submissions, Rohatgi also claimed that speaker Ramesh Kumar had allegedly asked rebel MLAs to “go to hell” and that eight MLAs had submitted their resignations before the process of disqualification had begun.On Friday morning, the rebel MLAs returned to their home for the past week, the Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel, after meeting the speaker on the evening before. Scenes of great drama had unfolded outside the hotel on July 10 when Congress leaders D.K. Shivakumar and Murli Deora were detained after not being allowed inside.#WATCH: Rebel Congress MLA Byrathi Basavaraj runs into the Speaker’s office in Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru. #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/L6zrzPqCub— ANI (@ANI) July 11, 2019The speaker, who had rejected several resignation letters because they were not in the current format, assigned a 4 pm appointment time for three of the five MLAs whose letters were deemed to have been in the correct format.Meanwhile, BJP’s Karnataka chief B.S. Yeddyurappa said that his party has issued a whip to all MLAs to attend every day of the assembly until the end of the 11-day monsoon session. While the BJP hopes to stake claim in forming the government, Kumaraswamy has maintained that all is well within the coalition’s ranks. On Thursday night as well, the chief minister had sought to downplay claims of his government failing, on Twitter.Congress -JDS coalition in the state is going strong despite the efforts to destabilize. We are confident and prepared for a smooth and fruitful conduct of legislative sessions.1/2— H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) July 11, 2019
