Karnataka speaker Ramesh kumar at assembly session in Bangalore on Friday.

BENGALURU: Even after three “deadlines” and 17 hours of debate over two days, the trust motion moved by Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy could not be concluded on Friday with the Congress-JD(S) government ignoring governor Vajubhai R Vala’s “request” to wrap up the proceedings by the end of the day. Amid a heated debate over whether the governor could intervene in assembly proceedings, the House was adjourned till Monday, providing a breather to the government.

After Kumaraswamy ignored Vala’s 1.30pm deadline, the latter sent another letter to the CM, giving him time till midnight to prove his majority. But speaker K R Ramesh Kumar adjourned the House at 8.25pm.

The debate over the governor’s letters appeared to go in circles. While Kumar said it was up to the CM to decide if he should abide by the letter since it was addressed to him, 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 was over, they could not press for division of votes.

All eyes will now be on Vala’s next move as he can exercise his discretionary powers to resolve the crisis or set a new deadline. In his missive on Friday, the governor indicated that 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 various 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 MLA resigned?” Kumaraswamy said, referring to the letter the governor sent on Friday.

During the day-long debate on the trust motion, MLAs of the ruling coalition and the opposition BJP fought intensely over the governor’s directive. Amid pandemonium, Congress members accused BJP of misusing the governor’s office to conspire against the government and shouted slogans, “Go back governor.”

As the clock struck 1.30pm, opposition leader B S Yeddyurappa pressed for division of votes and insisted that the speaker ask Kumaraswamy if he would obey the governor’s directive.

As the CM replied, senior ministers R V Deshpande and Krishna Byregowda rose to his defence, saying once the motion was moved, it was the property of the House. The coalition members also took names and accused BJP of bribing rebel MLAs with crores to switch over.

Senior BJP member J C Madhuswamy said the governor has the constitutional right to ask the CM to prove his majority if he has any doubts about it. “We as opposition don’t want to violate the governor’s order. It’s up to you whether to obey or flout it,” he said. Opposition MLAs said they were prepared to sit till midnight, but the voting must happen before the House was adjourned for the day.

However, the ruling coalition members argued that the motion of confidence was not like any other business of the House. “The rebel MLAs have made some serious allegations of corruption and maladministration against the government. We need to debate those charges and tell people the truth. Therefore, all members who have given their names should be allowed to speak. Only then can the motion be taken up for voting,” said JD(S) MLA K M Shivalingegowda.

The speaker later adjourned the House till Monday after Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah assured him that the government will cooperate with the speaker to take up voting on Monday.



In Video: Congress-JD(S) government ignores governor Vajubhai R Vala’s 'request'