Karnataka political crisis live updates: CM HD Kumaraswamy meets Siddaramaiah at his Bengaluru residence

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had announced on Friday that he would seek a trust vote in the assembly despite the resignation by rebel legislators.

Image Credit: ANI

Bengaluru: In yet another twist to the current political turmoil in Karnataka, five more rebel Congress MLAs on Saturday approached the Supreme Court against the state assembly Speaker for not accepting their resignations. The Congress lawmakers are K Sudhakar, Roshan Baig, MTB Nagaraj, Muniratna Naidu and Anand Singh. Including these five, the total number of lawmakers who approached the Supreme Court is now 15. Ahead of the trust vote in the Karnataka Vidhan Soudha (legislative assembly), the ruling Congress-JD(S) and the main opposition party BJP escorted their MLAs to different resorts in order to protect them from poaching. While the Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) kept about 30 of its legislators at the Golfshire Resort near Nandi Hills in Bengaluru, the Congress moved its 50 MLAs to the Clarks Exotica Convention Resorts on the outskirts of the city. 

The BJP too moved 80 of its 105 lawmakers to the Ramada resort at Yelahanka after Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy announced on Friday that he would seek a trust vote in the assembly despite the resignation by rebel legislators. In a related development, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered a ''status quo'' in connection with a plea filed by a group of dissident ruling Karnataka coalition MLAs seeking its urgent intervention in their case. In their plea, the MLAs had accused the Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar of not discharging his constitutional duties and not approving their resignations.

During a hearing earlier on Thursday, the top court had asked the 10 MLAs to appear before the Speaker and requested the latter “to grant them an audience at the same time”. Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar had asserted that he needs time to examine the resignations submitted by rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that the decision taken by the Speaker has to be interim.

The Congress-JDS government, which came to power around 13 months ago, plunged into a serious crisis on Saturday following the resignation of over a dozen MLAs from the two parties.

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13 July 2019

20:32 IST

Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy visits Siddaramaiah's Bengaluru residence, news agency ANI reported.

"Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy, rebel Congress MLA MTB Nagaraj, and Congress leader Zameer Ahmed Khan at the residence of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah's residence in Bengaluru," ANI said.

Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy, rebel Congress MLA MTB Nagaraj, and Congress leader Zameer Ahmed Khan at the residence of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah's residence in Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/uIxlghJ44k

— ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2019

14:08 IST

Five more rebel Karnataka Congress MLAs, including Anand Singh and Roshan Baig, have also moved Supreme Court against the assembly Speaker not accepting their resignations.

Five more rebel Karnataka Congress MLAs including Anand Singh and Roshan Baig(in file pic) have also moved Supreme Court against the assembly speaker not accepting their resignations pic.twitter.com/CYk2qW9DHk

— ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2019