Karnataka crisis: Ready for both trust vote or no-confidence motion, HD Kumaraswamy tells Speaker

Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Friday said he was ready to seek a trust vote and asked Speaker K R Ramesh to fix time and date for the same.

"After all these developments, I am seeking your permission and time to prove the majority in this session," he told Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar in the Assembly.

Kumaraswamy said he was also ready to face a trial of strength in the Assembly if the BJP moved a no-confidence motion.

The Speaker said he will allot a slot for the trust vote whenever the chief minister opts for it.

Former Karnataka chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah said that he is confident that the JD(S)-Congress coalition government will win a vote of confidence in the Assembly."

I do not want to disclose but I am confident that we will win the vote of confidence motion," he said referring to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's statement in the House that he was ready to face a floor test.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court ordered a Status Quo on the resignations of rebel MLAs till Tuesday. The court directed the Assembly Speaker not to decide on the resignations or disqualifications of the MLAs until then.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that it will consider the issue on Tuesday.

Ten Congress and JD(S) MLAs on Thursday had moved the Supreme Court, seeking a direction to the Speaker to accept their resignation and not proceed with the applications for their disqualification from the House.

Following which Speaker K R Ramesh had urged the apex court to recall its order which asked him to take a decision on the resignation of MLAs during the course of the day i.e. July 11.

A total of 16 MLAs including 13 from the Congress and 3 from JD(S) have resigned even as two independents have withdrawn support to the 13-month old Congress-JD(S) coalition government

(Inputs from agencies)