Kumaraswamy govt stretches trust vote T20 to a Test match

Bengaluru, Jul 20: After three ‘deadlines’ and 17 hours of debate, the JD(S)-Congress government got a breather as the assembly was adjourned till Monday when the vote of confidence will be taken up.CM HD Kumaraswamy appeared to have the last word as the governor’s third ‘request’ to wrap up the trust vote was dismissed amid a heated debate over whether he could intervene in House proceedings.

After Kumaraswamy failed to meet governor Vajubhai R Vala’s 1.30pm deadline on Friday, the latter sent another letter to the CM, giving him time till midnight to prove his majority. The House was adjourned at 8.25pm.

The debate over the governor’s letters appeared to go in circles. Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar said it was up to the CM to decide if he should abide by it since it was addressed to him, while Kumaraswamy requested the speaker to decide whether the governor can set a deadline. The CM cited an SC verdict that the governor cannot act as an ombudsman of the legislature and reminded BJP members that until the discussion is over, they cannot press for division of votes. All eyes will now be on the governor’s next move as he can exercise his discretionary powers to resolve the crisis or set a new deadline. The governor had, in his last missive on Friday, indicated he was getting several complaints of “horse-trading”.

“The governor has written a second love letter to me. He (governor) has said he has been receiving reports about horse-trading. He is speaking about horse-trading now. What was he doing for the last 10 days? Why did he not write any letter when 10 MLAs resigned,” Kumaraswamy said.

The faceoff appears set to escalate into another legalconstitutional battle as the CM has moved Supreme Court seeking right to issue whip to rebel MLAs. In the petition, he said the governor cannot dictate to the assembly on how the confidence motion is to be taken up. “No such direction on trust vote could have been issued by the governor when confidence motion was already initiated. Deadlines set by governor are completely contrary and ex facie in contravention of apex court’s earlier verdict,” Kumaraswamy told the apex court in his petition.

The trust vote proceedings resumed in the House around 11am on Friday, with the speaker asking Kumaraswamy to speak on the debate on the confidence motion, disallowing discussion on the point of order raised by Congress MLA Siddaramaiah. A daylong debate ensued even as the ruling coalition and opposition BJP members fought intensely over the governor’s directive.