Karnataka Speaker moves SC as rebel MLAs fly back to Bengaluru

BENGALURU: The political showdown in Karnataka is reaching its climax but not without the intervention of the Supreme Court. Ten MLAs of the Congress-JDS coalition who were holed up in a Mumbai hotel boarded flights back to Karnataka after the apex court asked them to appear before Speaker Ramesh Kumar on Thursday.

On the day before the monsoon session of the Karnataka assembly begins, the rebel MLAs, whose resignations were deemed 'untenable' by the Speaker citing 'wrong format', will appear before him at 6 PM to apprise him of their decision to resign.

The court also asked the Speaker to take a decision on the resignations before midnight, further directing the Director General of police to provide adequate security to the MLAs when they appear before the Speaker. 

Pointing out that a time frame cannot be imposed on him, Speaker Ramesh Kumar also approached the Supreme Court requesting a vacation on its order on the pleas submitted by the rebel MLAs. While the Speaker sought for his petition to be heard immediately, the court refused to entertain the urgency of the petition. Ramesh Kumar's plea may now be heard on Friday along with the petitions of the rebel MLAs. 

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Meanwhile, HD Kumaraswamy chaired a cabinet meeting on Thursday where the precarious situation of the government was under discussion. "Government is in a precarious position. This was discussed in the Cabinet. This is the seventh assault by the BJP on the state government. So far we have withstood such efforts but this time it is more precarious, I agree. But we have decided to brave this and try and convince the MLAs who resigned and do everything possible to save the government," said Krishna Byregowda, Minister, RDPR after the cabinet meeting.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had categorically stated that there was no need for him to resign as of yet.