K'taka crisis: Whip will be issued to party MLAs, says YS Yeddyurappa

Amid the political turbulence in Karnataka, former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa said that a whip will be issued to BJP MLAs for attending the assembly session which commenced from today.

"We are waiting for the Supreme Court's decision which will be announced at around 12:30 pm today. We will issue a whip to our MLAs to attend the session starting from today till the end of this month," Yeddyurappa said.

Ramesh Kumar, despite a Supreme Court order, ruled out any immediate decision on the resignation of rebel MLAs in the crisis-hit ruling JD(S)-Congress coalition, saying he cannot be expected to work at "lightning speed".

The 10 rebel MLAs personally submitted their fresh resignations to Kumar in Bengaluru yesterday. However, the speaker said that the letters were in the "right format" but he would examine whether they are "voluntary and genuine".

In a fresh turn of events in Karnataka, KR Ramesh Kumar has agreed to meet three of the five rebel Congress MLAs on Friday, who have tendered their resignations in the "prescribed" format.

The meeting is scheduled to be held at 4 pm today.

Talking to the media Kumar dismissed the charge that he was delaying a decision on these resignations to help the government which has allegedly lost its majority.

"I need to examine these resignations (of rebel MLAs) all night and ascertain if they are genuine. The Supreme Court has asked me to take a decision. I have video-graphed everything and I will send it to the Supreme Court," said Kumar.

The Apex court on Thursday had asked the Speaker to decide "forthwith" about the resignation of 10 rebel MLAs.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi directed the Speaker to finalise the decision by Friday, when the court takes up the plea of the rebel MLAs.

Hours after the order was passed, the Speaker approached the top court seeking modification of the direction asking him to decide the issue of the resignation in the course of the day.

However, the bench said the order had already been passed in the morning and Kumar's application would be taken up on Friday along with the plea of the rebel MLAs.

The 13-month-old Congress-JD(S) government had earlier this month slumped into crisis following the resignation of 10 MLAs

( With inputs from ANI )