Karnataka Governor asks CM Kumaraswamy to prove majority by 1:30 pm on Friday

Amid high voltage political drama over the fate of wobbly Congress-JDS government in Karnataka, Governor Vajubhai Vala on Thursday asked Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy to prove majority on the Assembly floor before 1:30 pm tomorrow, i.e. July 19, 2019.

The Karnataka assembly was adjourned till Friday morning amid uproar during the debate on the motion of confidence moved by Kumaraswamy to decide the fate of his 14-month-old government.

The House was adjourned by Deputy Speaker Krishna Reddy after the Congress members started shouting slogans persistently against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the proceedings wore on with Kumaraswamy yet to make his speech on the motion.

READ | BJP to move Supreme Court seeking direction to Karnataka Speaker to hold trust vote tomorrow

Before the House was adjourned, BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa declared that his party members would stay put in the House itself overnight and even till the time the trust vote was decided.

Meanwhile, there are also reports that the BJP has decided to move Supreme Court, seeking direction to the Karnataka Speaker to hold trust vote by tomorrow itself. The BJP is reportedly apprehensive that the ruling coalition might try to get the debate prolonged as much as possible to buy time in its last ditch effort to shore up numbers before the voting is taken up.

The ruling coalition's strength in the House 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.

READ | Karnataka Crisis: Hold trust vote now, says Yeddyurappa, 'What's the hurry,' asks Kumaraswamy

If the resignations of the 15 MLAs (12 from Congress and 3 from JDS) are accepted, the ruling coalition’s tally will plummet to 101, (excluding the Speaker) reducing the 14 month-old Kumaraswamy government to a minority.