Karnataka: Coalition pins hopes on Supreme Court ahead of trust vote

Bengaluru, July 21: It is a big day in Karnataka on Monday as the JD(S)-Congress coalition gets set to face a trust vote.

While the Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly Ramesh Kumar has been accused of delaying the acceptance of the resignations by the rebel MLAs, the coalition would be pinning its hopes on the Supreme Court.

Two petitions have been filed seeking a clarity into the July 17 judgment of the Supreme Court. The petitions have questioned the SC's immunity that was granted to the rebels to stay away from the assembly. The petitions by Dinesh Gundu Rao and H D Kumaraswamy say that in the wake of this immunity granted, the whip issued by them makes no sense and this is opposed to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.

The coalition is hopeful that the SC would come to their rescue on Monday. If the SC were to rule that the rebels have to be present and then they do not turn up, they could be disqualified for disobeying the whip.

Ahead of the trust vote which the coalition is expected to take on Monday, hectic efforts are on to coax the rebels. Ramalinga Reddy, who had resigned, but took a u-turn made attempts to coax the rebels, but failed. The coalition partners have also decided to seek the help of religious institutions in a bid to try and coax the rebels.

The BJP on the other hand has said that it would wait until Monday. We would neither approach the Supreme Court, nor go back to the Governor, state BJP president, B S Yeddyurappa said.