Despite whips issued by various parties to their legislators to be present on the first day of the Budget session of Karnataka legislature, as many as nine MLAs from the Congress and three from the BJP on Wednesday were found absent from the House.
The nine Congress legislators who were absent included the four rebel MLAs -- Ramesh Jharkiholi, Mahesh Kumatalli, Umesh Jadhav and B. Nagendra.
One legislator from ruling alliance partner Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), Narayana Gowda, also skipped the House proceedings.
With some Congress legislators skipping the joint session, which was addressed by Governor Vajubhai Vala, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators disrupted the House claiming the JD-S-Congress coalition did not have the support of majority.
The 10-day legislature session took off on a stormy note with anti-government sloganeering by the BJP legislators, forcing the Governor to end his speech within five minutes.
Kumaraswamy, who also holds the Finance portfolio, will present the state Budget for fiscal 2019-20 in the Assembly on Friday.nar