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Hit By Resignations, Congress- JD(S) Govt In Karnataka To Face Floor Test On Thursday

Congress leader Siddaramaiah said the discussion on the vote of confidence will be taken up on Thursday in the Assembly.

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Hit By Resignations, Congress- JD(S) Govt In Karnataka To Face Floor Test On Thursday
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The confidence motion moved by Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy would be taken up in the Assembly on July 18, Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar said on Monday.

The date has been fixed after consulting both the opposition and ruling coalition leaders during the Business Advisory Committee meeting, Kumar announced in the assembly.

The Speaker also adjourned the House till Thursday.

He said the motion moved by Kumaraswamy, who is also the House leader, would be taken up at 11am.

Earlier, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah said it has been decided that on Thursday the confidence motion would be taken up for debate.

"Both parties have agreed for the confidence motion at 11 AM on Thursday," Siddaramaiah told reporters, emerging out of the BAC meeting.

The BJP, which had earlier sought to move a no-confidence motion, said it has agreed for the trust vote schedule.

Speaking to reporters, BJP senior legislator J C Madhuswamy said the party has agreed for it and added that it also demanded that no bills should be tabled till the government proved its majority.

Earlier, the BJP had threatened to disrupt the Karnataka Assembly session if Kumaraswamy doesn't move a trust vote to prove majority.

The 13-month-old Congress-JDS government has slumped into crisis following the resignation of several MLAs.

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) beside 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.

The coalition leaders received a major jolt Sunday morning as Nagaraj, with whom they had held day-long talks on Saturday in a bid to woo him back to save the government, flew to Mumbai and joined the rebel MLAs camped there.

Karnataka BJP chief B.S. Yeddyurappa last week said that it was better for Kumaraswamy 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," he said.

(With inputs from agencies)