Will allot slot for trust vote when CM seeks it: Speaker Ramesh Kumar
Bengaluru: In the wake of H D Kumaraswamy deciding to seek a trust vote, Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar Friday said a slot would be allotted whenever the Karnataka Chief Minister opted for it.
"The chief minister has spoken his mind that he would not cling to power amid the confusion. He said he will seek the trust of the House," the Speaker told reporters here.
"Whenever he tells me that he wants to move the trust motion, the very next day I will put it in the business of the day," he added.
The embattled chief minister Friday sought time from the Speaker to move the trust vote in the House in the wake of resignation by 16 MLAs--13 from the Congress and three JD(S) legislators.
Also, two independent MLAs withdrew their support to the government and aligned with the BJP.
To a question on the justification behind the chief minister seeking to trust vote while paying condolences, the Speaker said the question should be put to Kumaraswamy.
"I feel that it can be heard because he had said that he will not cling to power in the current situation. I cannot say that I will hear it today itself. He has only informed me that on a certain day he will seek the trust vote. My job will be to include it in the list of business of the day," Ramesh Kumar added.
The Speaker was supposed to start the hearing on the resignation of three MLAs Anand Singh, Prathap Gouda Patil and Narayana Gowda Friday.
However, two of them approached the Supreme Court, which directed the speaker to maintain 'status quo'.
Asked whether he would still start proceedings on the resignation by three MLAs, Kumar said, "I will start the process if they come. If they don't come I will sleep at home.
That's it."
The resignations have pushed the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in the state to the brink. If the resignations are accepted, the coalition of Congress and JD(S) will have 100 members while BJP will have 107 MLAs.
The ruling coalition's total strength is 116 (Congress-78, JD(S)-37 and BSP-1), besides the Speaker.
With the support of the two independents, who Monday resigned from the ministry, the BJP has 107 MLAs in the 224-member House, where the half-way mark is 113.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Odisha: BJD suspends 6 MLAs for cross-voting in RS polls
_vb_52.jpeg)
Bhubaneswar (PTI): The Biju Janata Dal on Saturday suspended six of its MLAs for cross-voting during the recent election to four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha.
The suspended legislators were Chakramani Kanhar of Baliguda seat, Naba Kishor Mallick of Jayadev constituency, Souvic Biswal of Choudwar-Cuttack, Subasini Jena of Basta, Ramakanta Bhoi of Tirtol and Devi Ranjan Tripathy of Banki, an order by party chief Naveen Patnaik showed.
The suspension decision was taken at the opposition party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting presided over by Patnaik.
The six MLAs were issued a show-cause notice on March 17.
They submitted their replies on Friday evening, and those were found not satisfactory, said the BJD's chief whip in the Assembly, Pramila Mallik.
The ruling BJP won two of the four Rajya Sabha seats while the opposition BJD and a saffron party-backed Independent candidate bagged one seat each in the biennial polls held last Monday.
While the total number of BJP legislators and Independent MLAs supporting the ruling party was 82 in the 147-member House, the saffron party candidates secured 93 first preference votes, which was 11 more than its strength in the Assembly.
Of these 11 votes, eight were of BJD MLAs and three of Congress legislators, an official had said.
_vb_24.jpeg)
_vb_27.jpeg)
_vb_26.jpeg)