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Updated: Jul 19, 2019 17:51 IST

As HD Kumaraswamy resumed his speech on the trust motion in the Karnataka Assembly on Friday, the Karnataka chief minister appeared to acknowledge that his government was poised on the brink of collapse after the resignation of 16 lawmakers.

Kumaraswamy, who led a Congress-Janata Dal Secular coalition government for nearly 15 months, detailed the various attempts that he alleged, were made by the BJP to topple his government and responded to barbs that his brother Revanna was on a temple run to save his government.

“Yes, Revanna goes to temples but we are not naive to think we can save this government through magic,” Kumaraswamy told the assembly in a speech that was meant to initiate the discussion on the trust vote; even insist that he had the numbers. It is not a claim that Kumaraswamy made even once.

Kumaraswamy instead appeared to use the occasion to clear his name of accusations hurled at him by the BJP, underline that he had never hankered for power, much less the chief minister’s chair and drive hard on the message that the BJP had used money to lure away his coalition’s lawmakers.

“I’m not attached to this seat. If I was so desperate to save this government I’d have returned from the USA when Anand Singh resigned (on July 1)... I decided to wait and stick to my engagements,” the chief minister told the assembly on Friday afternoon, echoing a sentiment that he had repeatedly articulated through the day in his speech.

Follow live updates on Karnataka Assembly floor test here

Also read | Must vote on trust motion today, says Governor in new deadline for HD Kumaraswamy

Just a few minutes earlier, Governor Vajubhai Vala had ordered him to secure the assembly’s confidence before the end of day.

Kumaraswamy had already missed the Governor’s first deadline to get the trust motion passed by 1.30 pm.

In the second missive that Kumaraswamy sarcastically described as a “love letter”, Governor Vajubhai Vala had directed that the assembly could sit for longer beyond the 6 pm scheduled sitting if required. “I... require you to prove your majority and complete and conclude the floor test procedure today,” Governor Vala said.

Also read | ‘Know you are in hurry’: Speaker taunts Yeddyurappa who wants floor test voting to start

Kumaraswamy reacted to this letter in the assembly.

“I have respect for the Governor. But the second love letter from the Governor has hurt me…. He only came to know about horse trading not 10 days ago, but only today!” said Kumaraswamy, holding up photographs of BJP workers escorting lawmakers of the ruling coalition to Mumbai where they have been sequestered for days.

The chief minister also recalled how the Governor had ordered a clear passage for the legislators through Bengaluru’s congested roads the last time the rebels were in town to appear before the Speaker.

Kumaraswamy asked Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar to take the call on the timing of voting for the confidence motion.

“I leave the decision on the floor test to you…. It will not directed by Delhi,” he said.

“I request you to protect me from the letter sent by the Governor,” the chief minister said.

But he wasn’t only relying on the Speaker. Kumaraswamy, who is also the boss of the ruling Janata Dal Secular, also approached the Supreme Court against its interim ruling that bars political parties from compelling the rebel lawmakers to attend the trust vote or vote in line with the party whip.

The application was also the clearest hint that the government did not intend to comply with Governor Vala’s order to complete the trust vote today. The Congress plan, a source said, was to explain the implication of its last week’s directive and request the top court to review this order.

The Congress-JDS ruling coalition’s hopes of surviving the trust vote are grounded in this application. The ruling coalition believes that it will have a fighting chance to make the rebel lawmakers fall in line and survive the trust vote if the dissident legislators face the prospect of disqualification for voting along with the BJP.

Disqualification implies that the legislators cannot become ministers in the state even if they are re-elected to the assembly as long as the term of the existing assembly does not end.