Congress on Monday questioned the direction given by Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala to Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar to complete the business of trust vote by the end of the day and asked him not to intervene in the Assembly proceedings.
"Governor might not have sent direction, it might be wrongly sent but this amounts to the interference in this house. The governor shall not interfere in the proceedings of this house. We have seen that the Governor's representative is present here, We welcome the person but we should have come to know of this," senior leader H K Patil said in the Assembly during the debate on the motion of confidence.
His remarka came after reports emerged that the Governor had given such a direction after a delegation of BJP leaders met him and sought completion of the trust vote business by tonight.
The Speaker acknowledged that he received the message from Governor about ensuring that the confidence is tested today.
"The motion of confidence moved is in consideration at the house. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is expected to maintain the confidence of the house at all times. I send a message to consider the trust vote by the end of the day," Vala said in a message to the Speaker.
Today, the Assembly is debating a confidence motion moved by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy that came in the wake of several resignations submitted by Congress-JD(S) MLAs.
Karnataka BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa also urged for the voting to be held today. "Even if it is 12 midnight, let the trust vote be held today," he said in the assembly.
A BJP delegation consisting of Jagadish Shettar, Arvind Limbavali, Basavaraj Bommai, S R Vishwanath and N Ravikumar met the Governor and submitted a memorandum over the vote of confidence.
"13 MLAs from the INC and 3 MLAs from JDS have resigned from the Legislature. Further, two independent MLAs have withdrawn their support from the government headed by HD Kumaraswamy. It is therefore evident that the Government led by HD Kumaraswamy has lost its majority...," read the memorandum.
As per the register of attendance, 18 MLAs were not present in the Assembly as the House took up the vote of confidence for debate.
The MLAs who were absent include Byrathi Basavaraj, Munirathna, S T Somashekar, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Roshan Baig, Srimanth Patil, Anand Singh, B Nagendra, R Shankar, K Gopalaiah, Narayana Gowda, M T B Basavaraj, B C Patil, H Vishwanath, Mahesh Kumthahalli, Prathap Gouda Patil, Dr Sudhakar and Shivaram Hebbar.
Sixteen MLAs from the ruling coalition including thirteen Congress and three JD(S)MLAs have resigned.BJP has 105 MLAs in the 225-member state Assembly including one nominated MLA. The halfway mark is 113.
( With inputs from ANI )