Karnataka political crisis
Amid an ongoing political crisis in Karnataka, Section 144 has been imposed at the state assembly Vidhana Soudha from 11 to 14 July, according to ANI reports. It prohibits an assembly of more than 4 people in an area.
Several Congress and JD(S) MLAs have tendered their resignations to the office of the Speaker over the last few days. The rebel MLAs of Congress-JDS collision government moved to the Supreme Court against Speaker Ramesh Kumar on Wednesday alleging he is deliberately taking time to accept their resignation. The apex court will hear the matter on Thursday.
The Karnataka Assembly has 225 members, including nominated MLA. If Assembly Speaker accepts the resignations of the MLAs, the 13-month-old ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition will plunge from 118 to 101, 12 less to reach the majority mark.
Meanwhile, Congress leader DK Shivakumar expressed hope of a plausible end of political dram in Karnataka and said "all the rebel Congress-Janata Dal (S) MLAs would return home and the state government would survive the crisis". Shivakumar said these words even as he was to be deported to Bengaluru -- and that too, forcibly.
Meanwhile, the Congress-JD(S) alliance has been accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of conspiring to topple the coalition government in the state. However, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy says the government will stay put come what may and the crisis will be resolved.
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