Karnataka crisis: Congress issues whip to MLAs, including rebels

Bengaluru, July 11: As the JD(S)-Congress coalition in Karnataka hangs by a thread, Congress chief whip in Assembly Ganesh Hukkeri issued a whip to party MLAs to attend Friday's session to pass the finance Bill and other matters, failing which absent MLAs will be disqualified under the anti-defection law.

the 225-member Assembly will convene for a 10-day session amidst Opposition BJPs demand for a floor test and ouster of the H.D. Kumaraswamy government.

As many as 16 MLAs, including Housing Minister M T B Nagaraj, have resigned and two Independent legislators, R Shankar and H Nagesh, have withdrawn support to the Congress-JD(S) coalition government.

Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar is yet to accept the resignations of the MLAs.

The coalition faces the threat of losing majority in the Assembly if the resignations are accepted as its current tally is 116 in the 224-member House.

If all the resignations are accepted, the Assembly strength comes down to 208 (224-16). Which makes the halfway mark 104.

In case an MLA defies the whip, he can be disqualified under the anti-defection law, which will lead to the strength (and hence the half-way mark) of the Assembly to come down accordingly.