New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked 10 rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs of Karnataka "to meet the Karnataka Assembly Speaker at 6 pm on Thursday and submit their resignations if they so wish."
A bench led by Supreme Court Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also ordered that the Speaker would have to call on the resignations by end of day and place its orders before the bench on Friday morning.
The court said that security would be provided to the MLAs. It also ordered the DGP of Karnataka to provide protection to all rebel MLAs.
Meanwhile, the Speaker had sought more time to verify whether the resignations were voluntary or coerced. He said that the probe cannot be completed forthwith or by midnight.
The top court, however, declined Kumar’s request. It said it is for the Speaker to decide what course of action he wants to take, and will hear the matter again on Friday.
The lawmakers, who flew from Bengaluru to Mumbai after submitting their resignations on Saturday, alleged that the Speaker was deliberately sitting on their letters to help the Congress-JD(S) government.
The Karnataka coalition, which came to power in May last year, is on the brink after 18 resignations since last week.
