Bengaluru: The Karnataka Assembly will meet on Friday amid questions over the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition’s survival after 18 lawmakers resigned.
Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had tweeted: “Congress -JDS coalition in the state is going strong despite the efforts to destabilise. We are confident and prepared for a smooth and fruitful conduct of legislative sessions.”
Congress -JDS coalition in the state is going strong despite the efforts to destabilize. We are confident and prepared for a smooth and fruitful conduct of legislative sessions.
— H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) July 11, 2019
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The tweet came late on Thursday night, hours after he ruled out his resignation.
The resignation of 18 lawmakers is yet to be accepted by Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, who has been accused of stalling for time on behalf of the ruling coalition.
On Friday, the Supreme Court would take up the petition of 10 of the rebel lawmakers, who have alleged that they were being threatened and that the Speaker was sitting on their resignation letters in violation of the Constitution.
On the court's orders, the Speaker on Thursday evening met with the 10 lawmakers, who came to his office in the Vidhana Souda under police escort, and with blank papers. They wrote their fresh resignations. Later, they flew back to Mumbai, where they have been staying since they quit on Saturday.
If the resignations are accepted, the BJP said that the coalition government must resign because it has "lost its moral authority to rule."
