The Supreme Court will hear a joint petition by 10 rebel MLAs on Thursday as the political crisis for the Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka continues.
The rebel MLAs moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking a direction to the Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar to accept their resignations and stop threatening them with disqualification.
The petition was moved in court by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who asked the plea be heard on Wednesday itself. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, however, ordered it to be listed for hearing on Thursday. The plea will be heard by a bench headed by Justice S.A. Bobde.
Karnataka minister D.K. Shivakumar, on Wednesday, was detained outside the hotel in Mumbai where the rebel MLAs were staying. Twelve MLAs—seven of the Congress, three of the JD(S) and two Independents—have been staying at a hotel in Mumbai since Saturday after resigning from the Karnataka Assembly and withdrawing support to the coalition government.
Two more Congress MLAs in Karnataka resigned on Wednesday, deepening the crisis in the state over the future of the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led coalition government.
The ruling coalition faces the threat of losing its majority if the resignations of the rebel MLAs are accepted.
The coalition's total strength is 116 (Congress-78, JD(S)-37 and BSP-1), besides the speaker.
Meanwhile, in another setback, 10 out of 15 Congress MLAs in Goa joined the BJP on Wednesday, reducing the party's numbers to one-third in the state. The MLAs include Atanasio Monserratte, Jeniffer Monserratte, Francis Silveira, Philip Nery Rodrigues, Cleaofacio Dias, Wilfred Dsa, Nilkant Halarnkar and Isidor Fernandes.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant confirmed that the 10 MLAs have merged with the BJP.
BJP is the single largest party in Goa with 17 MLAs, Goa Forward Party and Independents have three each, while one MLA each is from NCP and MGP.
