Amid political crisis, Kumaraswamy seeks permission for floor test

Beleaguered Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Friday sought permission for facing a floor test during the ongoing session of the Assembly.

"After all these developments, I am seeking your permission and time to prove the majority in this session," he told Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar in the Assembly while the House was paying condolences to former members who died during the inter-session period.

Reacting to the chief minister's statement, former Home Minister and BJP leader R Ashok said Kumaraswamy should fix a time like Monday or Tuesday to face the floor test. He cannot make a vague demand, he said.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had ordered a status quo until Tuesday on a plea filed by 10 dissident MLAs of Congress and JD(S) seeking a direction to the Assembly Speaker to accept their resignation and not proceed with the applications for their disqualification.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justices Aniruddha Bose and Deepak Gupta will again hear the matter on Tuesday.

The order on status quo was given after hearing counsels--Mukul Rohtagi for the rebel MLAs and Abhishek Manu Singhvi for Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar.

The bench had on Thursday directed the Speaker to meet the rebel MLAs who were asked to give their resignations afresh in person. The speaker met them and took their resignations but did not take any decision saying he has to follow procedures and satisfy himself whether they were genuine and voluntary.

The 13-month-old Congress-JD(S) government had earlier this month slumped into crisis following the resignation of 10 MLAs.