Legislators of Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal-Secular in Karnataka on Thursday boycotted Governor T N Chaturvedi's address to the joint session of the state legislature.
They contended that the governor should not have addressed the session as the coalition headed by Dharam Singh had lost its majority.
However, Chaturvedi went ahead with the address, and explained the schemes undertaken by the government and listed out the priorities of the ruling coalition.
- Also read: Karnataka: How the coalition unravelled
Legislators of the Janata Dal-United, which was an ally of the BJP in the last assembly polls, attended the session.
The Congress-JDS coalition government is on the brink of a collapse after a JD-S faction led by H D Kumaraswamy, son of former prime minister and party chief H D Deve Gowda, withdrew support on Wednesday.
BJP leader B S Yediyurappa said the government had lost the 'moral right' to continue in office and that his party will protest against the 'government's attitude and the chief minister's attitude'.
Earlier, senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu said if the governor insisted on a trial of strength, 'we are willing to prove our strength on the floor of the assembly'. But, the 'first agenda' should be the trial of strength and not the governor's address, he said.
Asked if the BJP was afraid that the Congress will use the governor's office to 'subvert the democratic process', he said, "The Congress would always try to use the Governor's office. There is no doubt about it. There are so many examples."
He, however, said the BJP was confident that the Karnataka governor will go by the rules and the Constitution.
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