Will be dealt with in court: K'taka Speaker on rebel lawmakers' letter seeking time

After rebel MLAs wrote a letter seeking time to appear before him, Karnataka Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar on Tuesday said the matter will be dealt with by the court.

"It is all related to the court proceedings. It will always be dealt with in the court," Kumar told ANI when asked to comment on the letter.

13 rebel MLAs, who are currently at a hotel in Mumbai, wrote a letter to the Assembly Speaker earlier today, asking for four weeks' time to appear before him.

This comes less than a week after the Supreme Court allowed freedom to the rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs from participating in the trust vote in the Assembly.

When asked whether the rebel MLAs would come back and meet him after the notice asking them to appear, Speaker said, "It is a matter before the court. I will deal with it as I deal it as a judge."

Amid allegations from opposition party leaders on Kumar intentionally delaying the trust vote, he said, "I pray to God to give some sense to them."

Kumar set 6 p.m today as the deadline to complete the voting, amid objections by the BJP.

"Tomorrow we will finish the floor test after some of our members speak. By 4 pm tomorrow we will finish the discussion, by 6 pm we will finish the floor test," senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah had said on Monday.

The Congress-JDS government slumped into a minority earlier this month following the resignation of several dissident MLAs. Sixteen MLAs from the ruling coalition including thirteen Congress and three JD(S) MLAs have resigned.

The state Assembly has 225 members, including one nominated MLA. The halfway mark in the 225-member Assembly is 113.