Meanwhile, two more Karnataka Congress legislators, M.T.B. Nagaraj and D. Sudhakar, submitted their resignations on Wednesday, taking to 13 the number of party MLAs who have quit since July 1.
If the resignations are accepted, the party's strength is the Assembly will reduce from 79 to 66, including the Speaker.
According to sources, 3-4 more party legislators are likely to resign before the 10-day monsoon session of the state legislature beginnning Friday here.
The Congress, desperate to save its government in Karnataka, raised storm in Parliament and protested on the roads of Bengaluru, where senior party leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and K.C. Venugopal were detained along with several party workers while taking out a protest march.
High drama was also witnessed in Mumbai where some Congress leaders, including D.K. Shivakumar, were detained by police after they tried to enter a hotel to meet the rebel legislators, who hooted them away.
The government's woes increased when a lone legislator of a regional party KPJP and an Independent also resigned and withdrew their support to the ruling coalition, which has a slender majority in the Assembly.
After resignation by KPJP MLA and Independent legislator, the combined strength of the ruling allies will be reduced from 117 -- 115 of the Congress-JD-S and one of BSP -- to less than 113, the halfway mark for a simple majority.
If all the resignations are accepted, the strength of the Assembly will go down to 209 and the new halfway mark will be 105.
However, Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar has refused to accept the resignations of the MLAs, saying eight of them were not in the prescribed format and five others needed to explain why their action did not fall under the purview of Anti-Defection law.
The 10 MLAs, who have resigned, approached the Supreme Court against the Speaker's decision and sought an urgent hearing on the matter.
In their plea filed through senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, the rebel legislators alleged the Speaker was not performing his constitutional duty and deliberately delaying the acceptance of their resignations from the Assembly.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, assured Rohatgi that the plea would be heard, but at some later date. The apex court is most likely to hear the matter on Thursday.
The MLAs, in the petition, have made two specific prayers before the top court --direct the Speaker to accept the resignations tendered and restrain the Speaker from proceeding with application on disqualification of the MLAs.
The petitioners have also requested the court to pass an order which it may deem fit in connection with the facts and circumstances of the present case.
The petition claimed that the Speaker's actions were "vitiated by malafide as evident in his actions."
"Notwithstanding the same and fearing that the Chief Minister may have to tender resignation for want of confidence of the house, the Speaker is acting in a partisan manner to frustrate the will of the house", the petitioners contended.
The petitioners contended that the Chief Minister despite being reduced to a minority is refusing to seek a vote of confidence. "And, as a result of the concerted acts between the Speaker and the government, a minority government which does not enjoy the confidence of the House, continues in power illegally. A purposive interpretation of article 164 r/w principles of Parliamentary Sovereignty mandate that the Chief Minister should always command the confidence of the house", said the petition.
Referring to the current political situation as extra ordinary, the petitioners sought "the court to invoke its extraordinary jurisdiction for upholding the democratic principles as enshrined in the Constitution".
The petitioners seeking court's intervention on the matter to keep all Constitution Authorities within their limits and to ensure that there is no fraud on the Constitution.
Attacking the deliberate delay caused by the Speaker, the petitioners said his actions are not in compliance with Constitutional democracy.
"Any elected Member of the Legislature is entitled, in consultation with his conscience or other attendant circumstances to resign his membership of the Legislature. It is stated that the MLAs disenchanted with the mal-administration under the present dispensation wish to resign", said the petitioners.
In Bengaluru, a delegation of Karnataka's BJP met the Governor and urged him to direct the Assembly Speaker to conduct floor test, saying the Congress-JD(S) coalition government has 'lost' majority.
"We have petitioned the Governor to direct the Speaker to hold a floor test in the Assembly on Friday when the monsoon session begins as the coalition government lost majority and its Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has no moral right to continue anymore," BJP's state leader B.S. Yeddurappa told reporters here.
High drama played out in Mumbai too where the police detained senior Karnataka Congress leader and minister D.K. Shivakumar and Mumbai Congress leader Milind M. Deora and others outside the Hotel Renaissance, officials said.
Shivakumar and Deora were intending to meet the rebel MLAs who have lodged themselves in the hotel after resigning.
The Mumbai Police said it had imposed prohibitory orders around the hotel premises and detained these leaders for allegedly flouting the restrictions and took them away in waiting vans.
Earlier, Shivakumar, made an emotional appeal to the rebel party MLAs after being hooted by them.
"I won't go without meeting my friends� They will call me. Their hearts will break. I am in touch already with them� both our hearts are beating," Shivakumar told reporters.
Calling the rebels his "brothers", he termed the crisis as "a family problem", with all of them loving and respecting each other.
Referring to the apprehensions of threats expressed by the 10 MLAs in a letter to Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Barve late yesterday, Shivakumar said "there is no question of threatening anyone".
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the Karnataka Assembly speaker to decide on the resignation of the MLAs during the course of the day.
The bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, said the decision taken by the speaker has to be intimated on Friday when the court takes up the matter again.
The apex court also directed the Karnataka DGP to provide protection to the 10 MLAs from Bengaluru airport to the assembly after their arrival from Mumbai.
The session had been convened in the normal course before the 13-month-old government plunged into a crisis, triggered on July 6 by a string of resignations by 18 legislators who were part of the ruling coalition.
In the 225-member Assembly, including one nominated, the Congress had 79 MLAs, including Speaker, and JD(S) had 37 before the resignation by 16 MLAs. Lone members of BSP and KPJP (a regional outfit) besides an Independent also were with the government.
However, 16 MLAs - 13 of the Congress and 3 of the JD(S) -- have tendered their resignations over the last few days.
The KPJP legislator and the Independent also have quit as ministers and withdrawn their support to the government but they continue to be the members of the Assembly.
If the Speaker accepts resignation of the 16 members of the Congress and JD(S), the Assembly's effective strength will drop to 209 from 225 and the ruling coalition will be reduced to 100, when the halfway mark would be 105.
Kumar, who met 13 rebel Congress MLAs this evening after the Supreme Court asked him to do so in the morning, made it clear that he was not rushing into accepting the resignations as he wanted to be "satisfied" which would require a detailed scrutiny.
The Supreme Court order came after 10 Congress MLAs approached it against the Speaker's refusal to accept their resignations from the Assembly submitted on July 6.
"The legislators wrote their resignation in my office in the prescribed format and submitted to me personally. I will go through them and decide after I hear them personally," Kumar told reporters here after meeting the MLAs.
The Speaker asked the legislators to give in writing to him reasons for resigning from their respective assembly segments and that they were doing so voluntarily.
"I am answerable to the Constitution of India and people of Karnataka. As per the Constitution, if I am satisfied, then the resignations will be accepted," he said, making it clear that otherwise he will not accept those.
"I will communicate to the Supreme Court on Friday that I have acted upon the matter as per the law and in compliance with its order issued earlier in the day," said Kumar.
His clear intent to delay accepting the resignations assumes significance as the Assembly will be convening on Friday for a 10-day session.
Till their resignations are accepted, the 16 legislators - 13 of the Congress and 3 of the Janata Dal-Secular - would be bound by the whip issued by their respective parties regarding their attendance of the Assembly and any voting therein.
And if they violate the whip, they can face disciplinary action, including disqualification, which will bar them from re-election for the remaining period of the Assembly.
Both the Congress and the JD-S have issued whips to all their legislators to be present in the Assembly for passing the state Budget (finance bill) and participate in the discussions on other subjects till the session ends on February 24.
"The whip has been issued even to the rebels, as their resignations have not been accepted by the Speaker so far," Congress spokesman Ravi Gowda told IANS.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah has already petitioned the Speaker on Monday to disqualify the party lawmakers who defy the whip, irrespective of their status, or skip the session.
The rebels, however, claimed that disqualification would not apply to them as they have already resigned from the Assembly and submitted the letters to the Speaker as well as the Governor on July 6.
In the 225-member Assembly, including one nominated, the Congress has 79 MLAs, including Speaker, and JD-S has 37. Lone members of BSP and KPJP (a regional outfit) besides an Independent also were with the government, taking their tally to 118, five more than the required majority mark.
If the Speaker accepts all the 16 resignations, the Assembly's effective strength will drop to 209 from 225 and the ruling coalition will be reduced to 100, when the halfway mark would be 105.
Besides the 16 MLAs of the Congress and the JD-S, the KPJP legislator and the Independent have also withdrawn their support to the government.
On the other hand, the BJP has 105 MLAs and is eyeing the government formation.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Parliamentary Affairs Minister Krishna Byre Gowda admitted that the Congress-JD-S coalition government was in a crisis situation after 16 rebel legislators of the ruling allies resigned, reducing it to a minority in the Assembly.
He said the state Cabinet agreed to face a no-trust vote, if moved by the BJP in the Assembly.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the matter required a detailed hearing and schedule it for further hearing on Tuesday.
"The five rebel legislators, who also resigned from their Assembly seats, are likely to petition the apex court on Monday for its direction to the Speaker to accept their resignations also at the earliest," a source in the know of their decision told IANS.
The five rebels are Anand Singh, Munirathna, Roshan Baig, M.T.B. Nagaraj and K. Sudhakar.
Singh resigned on July 1, Munirthna on July 6, Baig on July 9 and Nagaraj and Sudhakar on July 10.
Nagaraj is also the Housing Minister in the 13-month-old Congress-Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) coalition government. He was made a minister on December 22 when the Cabinet was reshuffled and expanded.
"I have prepared affidavits for Baig and Nagaraj to file their petitions in the apex court on Monday," city advocate-cum-notary H.H. Nagaraj told IANS.
The affidavits and petitions of the remaining three legislators were prepared by other lawyers in the city, said the source.
Ten rebel legislators, including seven from the Congress and three from the JD-S, had petitioned the top court on July 10 for its intervention in expediting the acceptance of their resignations by the Speaker.
Though a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, directed the Speaker to allow the 10 rebels to resubmit their resignations and decide on them on July 11, it ordered the latter on July 12 to maintain status quo till July 16 when the case will be taken up for further hearing.
The Speaker sought more time from the apex court in deciding on the resignations as the ruling allies have petitioned him to disqualify them for defying their whip and alleged anti-party activities.
In a related development, Independents R. Shankar and H. Nagesh, who resigned as ministers on July 8 and withdrew their support to the coalition government, wrote to the Speaker to arrange their seats in the Opposition benches in the Assembly when they attend its Monsoon Session from Monday.
The former chief minister asserted that the Congress-JD(S)coalition government has lost majority and its collapse was imminent.
In a surprise move amid the existential crisis faced by his government, Kumaraswamy had on Friday announced in the state Assembly that he had voluntarily decided to seek a trust vote to end the "confusion" caused by resignations of rebel MLAs and requested the Speaker to fix time for the same.
Yeddyurappa said Saturday that the Chief Minister "must move the confidence motion Monday itself".
"Monday morning at Business Advisory Committee meeting we will advise that Chief Ministers commitment should be fulfilled," he said.
According to sources, at the Business Advisory Committee meeting on Friday Kumaraswamy had proposed that the trust vote be held on Wednesday.
However, no decision was taken as the principal opposition BJP did not attend the meeting.
The coalition government, which has been shaky since it came into being last year after a post-poll arrangement in the wake of a hung verdict, is facing a serious crisis now with 16 MLAs -- 13 of the Congress and three of the JD(S) -- resigning their assembly membership.
Besides, two independent legislators, who were made ministers recently to provide stability to the government, have quit the ministry and withdrawn support.
Pointing out that Kumaraswamy has clearly lost majority with the resignation of 16 MLAs and two independents withdrawing support, Yeddyurappa said it was better for him to resign and allow a new government to take over to work for the people of the state.
"The Chief Minister himself has said in the Assembly that without the support of MLAs, he would not like to continue and hence would be moving a motion seeking trust vote.
"Let us wait till Monday, if he is going to move confidence motion we have no objection. We will wait till Monday," he added.
The Supreme Court, hearing a petition by ten of the 16 rebel MLAs, had on Friday restrained Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar from taking any decision till next Tuesday on the resignation and disqualification of the legislators.
Yeddyurappa said, along with ten MLAs, five more MLAs- MTB Nagaraj, K Sudhakar, Munirathana, R Roshan Baig and Anand Singh-- have also moved the Supreme Court regarding delay in acceptance of their resignation by the Speaker, and it may also be taken up by the court on Tuesday.
To a question about the Congress trying to persuade rebel Congress MLA Nagaraj to withdraw his resignation, the BJP leader said when the legislator himself has moved the apex court and when the plea has been admitted, "I dont think he will go back".
"Some people may have tried to put pressure. I heard that D K Shivakumar (Congress Minister) was at his residence since 5 am. I feel that as they have produced affidavit before the Supreme Court, Nagraj or Sudhakar cannot go back and they will not go back," he added.
With Congress intensifying efforts to woo back its disgruntled MLAs Saturday, Nagraj has hinted that he might consider withdrawing his resignation and also said he would try to persuade others.
Meanwhile, Yeddyurappa visited his party MLAs who are camped at a resort on the outskirts of the city.
He held discussions with the MLAs on the current political developments and had lunch with them, party sources said.
The BJP on Friday had decided to move its MLAs to the resort near here amid fears of poaching bid by the ruling Congress-JD(S) combine after Chief Minister announced he would seek a trust vote in the assembly.
Earlier, Yeddyurappa termed Kumaraswamys decision to seek trust vote as a "conspiracy" to halt further exodus of coalition MLAs.
"Chief Minister Kumaraswamys statement seeking trust vote is part of systematic conspiracy to stop more people (MLAs) from quitting due to confusion within the Congress-JD(S). So, there is no meaning for seeking trust vote. Let him show the courage and do it.
"We will welcome it. The atmosphere is favourable for us. It is certain that this government will collapse in few days," he asserted.
The ruling coalition's total strength is 116 (Congress-78, JD(S)-37 and BSP-1), besides the Speaker.
With the support of the two independents, the BJP has 107 MLAs in the 224-member House, where the half-way mark is 113.
If the resignations of the 16 MLAs are accepted, the coalition's tally will be reduced to 100.
While a Congress spokesman said Nagaraj gave no reason for his trip, other leaders accused the opposition BJP of taking Nagaraj forcibly to Mumbai in an aircraft that belongs its Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrasekar.
"Nagaraj flew in a chartered aircraft to Mumbai in the afternoon. We don't know the reason, as he didn't inform us. We hope he will return by Monday in time to attend the session," Congress spokesman Ravi Gowda told IANS here.
However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Krishna Byre Gowda, who along with Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, and Water Resource Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Saturday persuaded Nagaraj to withdraw his resignation he submitted to Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar on July 10, hit out against the BJP.
"As shown in many news channels, BJP leader Ashoka and state unit President B.S. Yeddyurappa's private secretary Santosh have accompanied Nagaraj to Mumbai. What nexus they have with Nagaraj? Is this is not 'operation kamal' (lotus) of the saffron party to destabilise our government," he alleged.
"We learnt later that Nagaraj flew to Mumbai to meet (another rebel Congress lawmaker) K. Sudhakar, who also went to Mumbai on Saturday, and joined the 10 other rebel lawmakers staying in a star hotel since July 6 night," said a party official. Sudhakar had also submitted his resignation along with Nagaraj on July 10.
Accusing the BJP of standards, state Congress President Dinesh Gundu Rao said BJP leaders claim they have nothing to do with the rebel MLAs and yet whisk them away to Mumbai and put them in a star hotel since a week.
"We came to know that each legislator has been offered a whopping Rs 100 crore for resigning from their assembly seats to reduce the government to a minority," he alleged.
Nagaraj, who represents the party from Hoskote segment in Bengaluru Rural, is one of the richest lawmakers in the country, with assets value at Rs 907 crore, as per the affidavit in the nomination he filed before the Assembly election in May 2018.
The 10-day session resumes on Monday while the Supreme Court adjourned to July 16 the joint petitions the 10 rebel legislators filed seeking its direction to the Speaker for accepting their resignations forthwith.
The three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, however, directed the Speaker to maintain staus quo of the resignations till it decided on the maintainability of the petitions and if the top court could intervene in the matter pertaining to legislature.
Five more Congress rebel legislators - Nagaraj, Sudhakar, Anand Singh, Roshan Baig and Munirathna - filed petitions in the Supreme Court on Saturday to implead them in the case its bench was already hearing since Thursday.
Of the 16 rebel lawmakers who resigned, 13 belong to the Congress and 3 to the Janata Dal-Secular.
During the day-long arguments on Tuesday, the parties involved pointed out to a bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, the implications of the ongoing political crisis in Karnataka on the state as well as elsewhere, and also questioned the apex court's jurisdiction power to entertain the rebel MLAs' petition.
Hearing rebel MLAs counsel senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, the bench said: "We cannot say, in which way, the Speaker should decide the resignation or disqualification of MLAs. We cannot fetter him. Although, the important question is, is there any constitutional obligation for the Speaker to decide upon the resignations before the disqualification of the MLA or to club his decisions on both?"
The bench asked counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi what stopped Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar from deciding on whether to accept or reject the resignations tendered by the MLAs on July 6.
"You were silent on the resignations till the MLAs came to the Supreme Court. Why? If you have decided on the resignations, then where is the scope for disqualification?" the Chief Justice asked Singvhi.
Singhvi replied that the Speaker had filed an affidavit in the apex court explaining what had happened.
Asked why wasn't a decision taken when the MLAs went to the Speaker with their resignations, Singhvi said it was a written communication, and the Speaker was not available on that day. "But the decision was communicated to him on July 6," the court added.
Singhvi argued that the first condition of a genuine resignation tendered by an MLA was that "he has to be personally present before the Speaker" and added that the MLAs first met the Speaker on July 11.
Reacting sharply to the argument, the court said that the provision did not negate resigning by letter, but if the MLAs did make a personal visit to the Speaker then he was expected to decide on their resignations immediately. "Why didn't it happen on July 11?" the bench further queried.
Asking if the Speaker was challenging the Supreme Court's jurisdiction power, the Chief Justice said: "For your benefit, the court had ordered a floor test (referring to the last year's floor test) and appointed a Protem Speaker in a midnight hearing. The exercise of jurisdiction of our power depends only on self-restraint."
Singhvi said the Speaker was in no way questioning the court's jurisdiction and added: "Suppose a Speaker goes crazy, then Your Lordships can intervene."
The Chief Justice also heard senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, who was representing Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, and questioned the veracity of the petition filed by the rebel MLAs.
Asking the Supreme Court to have looked at the notice behind the petition, Dhawan said: "The court should have not entertained this petition," he said.
With senior Congress 'rebel' legislator R. Ramalinga Reddy hinting at withdrawing his resignation, the beleaguered ruling ally is hoping a few more would turn up in the Assembly to cast their vote in favour of the 13-month-old tottering coalition government.
"We are confident of facing and winning the floor test, as our leaders have been trying their best to get as many of the 13 legislators who resigned from the Assembly. With Reddy agreeing to withdraw, we hope more will follow," Congress spokesman Ravi Gowda told IANS.
In the 225-member Assembly, before the resignations poured in, the Congress has 79, including the Speaker, Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) 37, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 105, Independents 2, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 1 and nominated 1.
With 113 as the halfway mark for simple majority, the ruling combine had 119 before the crisis began on July 1.
After 16 rebel legislators -- 13 of the Congress and 3 of the JD-S resigned between July 1-10, and two Independents withdrew support to the 13-old-month shaky government on July 8, -- the effective strength of the ruling alliance was reduced to 101 from 119.
If all the 16 rebels abstain from the session, the effective strength of the Assembly for the floor test will be 209 (from the original 225), including the Speaker and the one nominated member.
If Reddy withdraws his resignation and attends the session beginning at 11 a.m., the ruling combine will have 102, including the Speaker and one from the BSP.
As the nominated member has no voting right and if the Speaker does not exercise his vote, the ruling combine will need 4 more legislators to meet the new halfway mark of 105 in a House of 209 members.
With the support of 2 Independents, the opposition BJP has 107.
"We are hoping our legislators M.T.B. Nagaraj, K. Sudhakar, Roshan Baig and Munirathna will also attend the session and vote in favour of the confidence motion Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will move," Gowda said.
After the Supreme Court's Wednesday's ruling that the 15 rebel MLAs, who petitioned it for permission to abstain from the Assembly, cannot be compelled to attend the session for the trust vote even if a Whip is issued by their respective parties, they decided to stay put in a Mumbai hotel and go to Bengaluru only after the trust vote.
"Both the parties have issued whip on Wednesday night to all the legislators, including the rebels as the Speaker has not accepted their resignations so far. As they (rebels) are still our members, they are bound to abide by the whip to attend the session and vote in favour of the confidence motion on the floor," added Gowda.
An upbeat BJP is, however, confident that Kumaraswamy will not have the numbers to reach the magic figure (halfway mark) and win the trust vote.
"Our gut feeling is the chief minister will initiate the debate and prefer resigning than face the humiliation of defeat in the floor test. If he does not have the numbers in his favour, he will have no choice but go to Raj Bhavan and gracefully submit his resignation to state Governor Vajubhai Vala at the earliest," a BJP spokesman told IANS.
"As the debate on the confidence motion moved by the Chief Minister on Thursday did not conclude in the Assembly, Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar could not conduct the floor test by the 6 p.m. deadline set by the Governor for the second time," an official told IANS.
The Governor directed the Chief Minister to prove the majority by 6 p.m. after the 1:30 p.m. deadline he set on Thursday night lapsed, as the discussions on the motion did not conclude by then even as the Speaker adjourned the House till 3 p.m.
In response to the demand of the ruling Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) lawmakers to allow them to participate in the discussions, the Speaker said that he would extend the session's time for a couple of hours, but pleaded with them to end the debate by Friday and conclude the floor test.
The opposition BJP insisted on conducting the floor test by Friday night itself.
Kumaraswamy and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Krishna Byre Gowda appealed to the Speaker to extend the debate to Monday, assuring him to complete the floor test.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah also sought time till Monday.
"The Chief Minister failed to prove majority in the Assembly by 1:30 p.m., the deadline set by the Governor on Thursday," opposition BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa told the Speaker after the first deadline lapsed.
When the former three-time BJP Chief Minister urged the Speaker to conduct the floor test forthwith, Kumar said that he would do it after the discussions on the confidence motion were completed by the treasury and the opposition members.
"Voice vote on the confidence motion only after discussions on it by the treasury and opposition members. Division of votes will be looked into if anyone demands for it after the voice vote," said Kumar.
In a letter issued on Thursday night, Vala had directed the Chief Minister to prove majority by 1:30 p.m. on Friday, a time set in response to BJP's complaint to him on the dilatory tactics of the ruling allies on the confidence motion Kumaraswamy moved on Thursday.
"I require you to prove your majority on or before 1:30 p.m. tomorrow (Friday)," said Vala in the letter after his Thursday's order to complete the floor test by the end of the day also lapsed.
Resuming the inconclusive debate on the motion, stalled six times due to ruckus between the lawmakers of the ruling allies and the BJP, Kumaraswamy said that it was for the Speaker to decide on the Governor's order as to when he should prove the majority on the floor of the House.
"It is not for me to decide by when I should prove the majority. It is the Speaker who is the custodian of the House and has the supreme authority to decide how the session should be conducted," said Kumaraswamy.
Intervening in the debate, Byre Gowda said the Governor cannot give such an order on the motion which was being debated by the ruling parties and the opposition members.
"We fail to understand how the Governor could direct the Chief Minister to prove majority in a limited timeframe without completing the debate by both sides and hearing the reply on it by the Chief Minister as mentioned in the rule book," said Gowda.
A restive BJP told the Speaker not to allow the ruling combine to further delay the floor test as there was no stay on it from the Supreme Court on the trial of strength.
Rejecting the BJP's demand, ruling lawmakers asked the Governor to go back and accused him of being a BJP agent who was converting the Raj Bhavan into a BJP office.
About 20 legislators, including 14 from the Congress, 3 from the JD-S and 3 Independents, were absent in the 225-member Karnataka Assembly when the session began on Friday.
As the assembly failed to take up the voting on the confidence motion to decide the fate of the 14-month-old government, the unending political drama sparked by the resignation of 15 MLAs of the ruling coalition a fortnight ago is set to spill over to next week with Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar adjourning the House till Monday.
All eyes were now on Governor Vajubhai Vala on his next course of action.
Before adjourning the house towards the fag end of the day, the Speaker made it clear that a finality would be put to the motion of confidence moved by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday and the matter would not be prolonged further under any circumstances, to which the government agreed.
Kumaraswamy and the Congress moved the Supreme Court accusing the governor of interfering with the Assembly proceedings when the debate on the trust vote was underway and sought clarification on its July 17 order causing hindrance in issuing whip to the legislators.
The court had held that the MLAs cannot be compelled to participate in the Assembly proceedings.
Kumaraswamy told the apex court that the governor cannot dictate the House on the manner in which the debate of confidence motion has to take place
In his second missive to Kumaraswamy, the governor expressed his "prima facie satisfaction" that the government has lost its majority confidence of the house.
"When the allegations of horse-trading are widely made and I am receiving many complaints, it is constitutionally imperative that the floor test be completed without any delay and today itself.
"I, therefore, require you to prove your majority and complete and conclude the floor test procedure today," Vala told Kumaraswamy in the second letter since Thursday.
The governor said he was receiving various reports about the attempts being made for horse-trading.
"This can be averted only if the exercise of conducting the floor test is conducted at the earliest and without any delay," the governor said.
As he was speaking on the confidence motion, Kumaraswamy said, "I have received the second love letter" from the governor. He has got 'gnanodaya' (awareness) now. Governor talks about horse-trading in the letter... was he not aware of it till now."
"Let us do politics...we are also here...we will not fear and run away. Why couldn't the governor see horse-trading when the MLAs were resigning."
Governor Vala fixed a second deadline asking the chief minister to complete the floor test shortly after the 1.30 pm deadline set on Thursday night for the JD(S) leader to prove his majority ended without the assembly taking up voting.
The House was also locked in an intense debate on when the trust vote process should be completed.
"Lot of discussion has happened; I want to close it (trust motion process) today," the speaker said.
"Caesar's wife should be above suspicion; I cannot be guilty of dragging proceedings."
Kumaraswamy said, "I have made preliminary submission; we can conclude (the process) on Monday."
But BJP leader Suresh Kumar said sanctity of trust vote would be lost if it dragged on and insisted the process be completed Friday itself while his boss B S Yeddyurappa said they are willing to wait till midnight
The ruling coalition appeared to be in no hurry to face the trust vote with Congress Legislature Party(CLP) leader Siddaramaiah earlier in the day saying the debate may go on till Monday after which the voting would take place since many MLAs have given their names to participate in the debate.
As the deadline neared, the ruling coalition members vociferously questioned the governor's power to issue such a direction with Kumaraswamy citing a Supreme Court verdict that a governor cannot act as ombudsman of the legislature.
Kumaraswamy said he would not criticise the governor and requested the speaker to decide whether the governor can set a deadline.
Allegations of bribery flew thick and fast as the debate progressed with the ruling coalition ministers and members targeting the BJP for its alleged toppling game.
"Legislators were offered Rs 40-50 crore to lure them; whose money is it?" asked Kumaraswamy, hitting out at the BJP even as the opposition members remained unruffled apparently to ensure there was no disorder that would disturb voting.
JD(S) MLA Srinivas Gowda alleged he was offered Rs 5 crore bribe by BJP to defect to bring down the government.
Minister Sa Ra Mahesh alleged Vishwanath (JD-S former state president) had told him that he needs money as he has election-related loan of Rs 28 crore.
Krishna Byre Gowda alleged hundreds of crores of were being pumped in to bring down the government.
In his speech, Kumaraswamy accused BJP of resorting to ways to circumvent the anti-defection law.
He asked BJP why it is in a hurry to end the trust vote debate in one day if it was sure of its numbers.
"Why is the BJP in a hurry, if they have the numbers... why the hurry to end the debate in one day.... I know it is not easy to get your MLAs," Kumaraswamy said looking towards Yeddyurappa.
As the clock in the assembly struck 1.30 pm, the BJP insisted on a division on the confidence motion moved by Kumaraswamy Thursday in accordance with the letter by the governor sent to him.
As many as 16 MLAs -- 13 from the Congress and three from JDS -- had resigned, while independent MLAs R Shankar and H Nagesh have withdrawn their support to the coalition government, putting the government on the edge.
One Congress member Ramalinga Reddy retracted, saying he would support the government.
The ruling combine's strength is 117-- Congress 78, JD(S) 37, BSP 1, and nominated 1, besides the Speaker.
With the support of the two independents, the opposition BJP has 107 MLAs in the 225-member House, including the nominated MLA and Speaker.
If the resignations of 15 MLAs (12 from Congress and 3 from JDS) are accepted or if they stay away, the ruling coalition's tally will plummet to 101, (excluding the Speaker) reducing the government to a minority.
"Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has lost the floor test, as 99 votes were in favour of the confidence motion and 105 against it," Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar told the members of the House after the floor test.
Of the 225-member Karnataka Assembly, 20 were not present in the House for the floor test.
Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy today missed the 6 p.m. deadline for the floor test set by Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar to prove majority in the House, as he could not complete his reply to the confidence motion he moved on July 18.
While adjourning the House late on Monday night, the Speaker had directed the Chief Minister to ensure that the ruling JD(S)-Congress alliance members completed the debate on his motion by 4 p.m. and his own reply by 5 p.m. so that the floor test could be held by 6 p.m. by division of votes.
Resignations by 15 rebel legislators of the ruling combine from their Assembly segments since July 1 have reduced the 14-month-old shaky coalition government to a minority, forcing a trust vote on the floor of the House.
The Congress rebels are Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak) and Mahesh Kumatahalli (Athani) constituency in Belagavi district, while the Independent is R. Shankar (Ranebennur).
"The 3 legislators have been disqualified under the Anti-Defection Law (10th Schedule of the Constitution) on the recommendation of their party," Ramesh Kumar told reporters here.
Though Shankar was elected in the May 2018 Assembly elections as a KPJP candidate, the Speaker said he had merged the regional outfit with the Congress in June as he was the only its elected member, the Speaker said.
"Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah informed me in June that Shankar had merged his KPJP with the Congress after he was made minister in the H.D. Kumaraswamy coalition government," said Kumar.