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Updated: Jul 19, 2019 16:00 IST

Karnataka’s HD Kumaraswamy government on Friday headed into a confrontation with Governor Vajubhai Vala who has ordered him to prove his majority in the assembly by 1.30 pm, telling the assembly that the Governor could not dictate the proceedings of the legislature.

“The (trust vote) motion is the property of the House... The governor cannot dictate the proceedings of the house,” Karnataka minister Krishna Byregowda told the state assembly shortly after Chief Minister Kumaraswamy red-flagged the governor’s directive.

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In his letter to Kumaraswamy last evening, Governor Vala had pointed to the 15 ruling coalition lawmakers who resigned from the assembly and the two independents who withdrew their support to conclude that the Congress-JDS coalition appeared to “have lost majority/confidence of the House”.

Kumaraswamy pointed to this message from the governor last evening and asked Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar to take a call. For effect, Kumaraswamy recalled that the Supreme Court’s interim ruling on the rebel MLAs did underline that the speaker would function unfettered.

“You, Speaker sir, must decide if the governor has such powers to direct us on a matter that is already in the House... Matters (trust vote) need to be discussed,” Kumaraswamy said shortly before the 1.30 pm was due to expire.

As the clock struck 1.30 pm, BS Yeddyurappa, the BJP chief in the state and the BJP’s presumptive chief minister demanded that the assembly vote on the trust motion in line with the Governor’s direction. Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, however, promptly rejected this demand. “According to our rules, there is no opportunity to go for division without discussion. I know you are in a hurry but that is not possible,” the Speaker said.

As for the governor’s letter, Ramesh Kumar said that communication was addressed to the chief minister and it was for him to respond to the letter the Governor wrote. The assembly was adjourned for an hour when the BJP protests continued.

Byregowda, the senior minister who intervened during the chief minister’s speech to amplify the points that his boss made, stressed that the governor’s directive had not come before the assembly started discussing the trust vote but after the House took it up. By then, the trust vote had already become a property of the House and wasn’t subject to the Governor’s directions.

The senior minister stressed that they could not be mute spectators when wrongs are committed because they would otherwise, be complicit in such improprieties. The attacks on the governor soon got shriller, and louder.

“In May 2018, the Governor gave the BJP 15 days to prove majority but we’re given 15 hours. If this doesn’t smack of conspiracy, what does?” he asked, underscoring that if one institution goes against the rules, it would lead to problems.