Karnataka floor test promises to be interesting after a last minute U-turn by a rebel MLA

• Karnataka legislative assembly is set to undergo a floor test after the Supreme Court final verdict came out yesterday.
  
• Ramalinga Reddy, one of the 13 Congress rebel MLAs’ has decided to take his resignation back and vote in favour of the party.
  
• The 14 rebel MLAs’ in Mumbai are not showing signs of any melt down and have clearly said that there is no question of stepping back.
  

Karnataka CM H D Kumaraswamy led Congress-JD(S) government got some relief as one of its 15 rebel MLAs has decided to take a U-turn and withdraw his resignation, according to reports.

Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy, has decided to vote in favour of the HDK government.

“I will take part in the assembly session tomorrow and vote in favour of the party. I will continue to remain in the party and serve as MLA,” Reddy told PTI.

The move has come hours before the Karnataka assembly is set for a trust vote.

In the meanwhile, a Section 144 is imposed around Vidhan Soudha area, where assembly of more than four people is banned, ahead of the vote.

Supreme Court in its ruling yesterday in the Karnataka political crisis case had said that the MLAs cannot be forced to take part in the trust vote.

While all the rebel MLAs were residing in Mumbai, Reddy was the only one who stayed back in Bengaluru and there were speculations that he may have been approached by the Congress for taking his resignation back.

Congress also did not include Reddy’s name in the list of MLAs for disqualification saying he was an ‘exception’.

Reddy while giving his resignation on July 6 had said that he is only resigning from the assembly and will continue to be in the party.

Now the faith of the Congress-JD(S) alliance government in Karnataka is completely dependent on the trust vote, as the rebel MLAs in Mumbai are showing no sign of melt down.

If this continues the HDK government will be reduced to a minority with 102 members after Reddy’s return.

The ruling government went into a crisis mode after 16 of its MLAs from both the parties of the coalition government resigned early this months. For the last two weeks, the political crisis in the state raged on, as Speaker of the Assembly refused to accept them, taking them to court.

One of the rebel MLAs Roshan Baig was also detained at Bengaluru airport and questioned, as he was stopped from taking a chartered flight, yesterday.



SEE ALSO:

Supreme Court order may have made it tough for Kumaraswamy government to stay in power in Karnataka

The Supreme Court will give its order to end Karnataka’s political crisis tomorrow

Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy puts up a brave front, but rebel MLAs lawyer says government is in a minority