Apart from the 18 members of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), including the Bharatiya Janata Party, seven non-National Democratic Alliance parties will attend the ceremony, going by their stated position on the issue which has snowballed into another political flashpoint between the ruling and opposition camps.
The Maharashtra Congress has convened a meeting of its legislators on Tuesday in view of the developments in the state that saw a split in the Nationalist Congress Party and Ajit Pawar being inducted as deputy chief minister in the Eknath Shinde government.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget speech on Wednesday was marked by the usual thumping of benches by the ruling alliance members, but the loudest cheer was reserved for her announcement of income tax relief, which was welcomed by 'Modi, Modi' chants in Lok Sabha that also witnessed a few instances of protest by the Opposition.
With reports surfacing of differences between Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis, Fadnavis was out seeking new allies. A disgruntled Ajit Pawar was easy to persuade.
Former Karnataka chief minister S M Krishna, noted industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and famous playback singer Suman Kalyanpur were given Padma awards by President Droupadi Murmu at a ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday.
Unfazed by Yeddyurappa's unceremonious exit, the BJP on Thursday fielded its senior leader S Suresh Kumar, a fifth term MLA, for the post of the Speaker whose election will precede the trust vote.
The 79-year old veteran leader, who has already announced his retirement from electoral politics, said there is no question of him sitting at home, and after the assembly session he will tour the state and campaign for the party and its candidates.
The Karnataka government is divided over filing an appeal in the Supreme Court against the acquittal of former Tamil Nadu chief minister. N Sathiya Moorthy analyses the possibilities
Congress legislators will spend Thursday night inside the Karnataka legislative assembly and council, demanding the sacking of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa and also that he be booked for sedition for his statement about the national flag.
What some of our leaders were up to on Thursday and Thursday.
'Blanket protection to MLAs, who are driven not by ideology but by far baser concerns, is unheard-of'
Seeking to consolidate its position in Rajya Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party is banking on independents for four additional seats and is seeking to capitalise on the infighting within the Congress in as many states in the June 10 biennial election.
Gandhi had recently alleged in London that the structures of Indian democracy are under "brutal attack" and there is a full-scale assault on the institutions of the country.
Prima facie, sources feel that the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, the anti-defection law, has been abused.
With the two latest resignations, 16 MLAs -- 13 from the Congress and 3 from the JD-S -- have quit while two Independent MLAs -- H Nagesh and R Shanker -- have already withdrawn support.
Senior Congress leader and coalition coordination committee chief Siddaramaiah on Saturday meanwhile, asserted that the government in Karnataka would continue.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi further said Karnataka assembly speaker K R Ramesh Kumar was free to decide on the resignations of the rebel legislators within the time-frame decided by him.
The withdrawal of support by the two MLAs to the government has dealt another blow to the coalition which is tottering on the brink of collapse after 13 MLAs of the combine resigned on Saturday.
'Switching loyalty from one party to another is completely unfair as it devalues my vote.'
'We all are together and whatever decision we have taken.. at any cost no question of going back (on resignations)'
The MLAs in the letter said they feel threatened, and requested the police to stop any Congress leader from meeting them.
Congress partly vehemently opposed the bill, calling it "anti people", "inhuman", "anti constitutional", "anti poor" and "draconian", and urged that it should not be passed for any reason and should be withdrawn by the government.
According to state government sources, not only did the governor insert some corrections, but he also initialled the final draft after those corrections had been made, reveals N Sathiya Moorthy.
They have sought quashing of the July 25 order of disqualification by K R Ramesh Kumar, who resigned on Monday as speaker of the House.
Both the Independent legislators were absent on the first day of the session.
'Shinde and Fadnavis have different working styles and certainly there is a crack that has come between them.'
Some important simple truths about the issue may be more helpful than high sounding debates, asserts Mohammad Sajjad.
Yeddyurappa claimed Kumaraswamy would fail to save the coalition government.
The ruling coalition had held out the threat of using the Whip against the wayward MLAs, citing the disqualification provision under the anti-defection law.
When Mr Rangaswamy began making threatening noises (he could have swapped the BJP's six MLAs with the DMK's six and formed the government with the outside help of the Congress and Independents), the BJP immediately named nominated MLAs.
As the House resumed its sitting an hour late, the Speaker made it clear, "The debate should start now. Everybody is watching us. Please don't make me a scapegoat. Let us reach our goal," stressing that the process should reach finality on Monday.
As the political turmoil lingered on with the ruling coalition making frenetic efforts to win back rebels who have pushed it to the brink of collapse, assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar on Monday announced the confidence motion sought to be moved by Kumaraswamy would be taken up at 11 am on July 18.
"If at all he has dignity, honour and self-esteem, or if he is aware of Karnataka's culture and traditions, he should immediately resign... Do not try to stick on to the chair. You do not have the numbers," former deputy chief minister and Padmanabhanagar BJP MLA R Ashok said.
Mallikarjun Kharge has the stature, maturity and gravitas to lead a national party like the Congress with its rich history of struggle and myriad achievements, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
It said the apex court order "whittles down" the power of a political party to issue whip to its MLAs as it has a constitutional right to do so and the court can't restrict that.
20 lawmakers did not turn up on Thursday, including 17 from the ruling coalition, 12 of whom are corralled in a hotel in Mumbai, as the House debated in a surcharged atmosphere.
The chief government whip on Thursday sought their disqualification for alleged anti-party activities.
The confidence motion moved by Kumaraswamy was defeated with 99 members voting for the motion and 105 against it in a House of 225 including speaker P R Ramesh Kumar and a nominated member.
'The leaders of the two parties, the rank and file, and even their respective vote banks are passionately opposed to each other.' 'At the top, between the leaders, it is personal, bitter and hostile.' 'This was not going to work. Everyone knew it.'
