Bengaluru: Besides fixing 6 pm as the deadline for the trust vote, Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar has done a big favour to the JDS-Congress ruling coalition by stating that the whip is applicable to all the MLAs, including those who tendered their resignation letters.

This means that if the MLAs don’t turn up for the trust vote at 6 pm today, they will be disqualified and become ineligible to contest for elections for the next five years. A disqualification will mark the end of all the rebel MLAs’ political careers.

A senior Congress leader informed Newskarnataka.com that the party is aware that this is a losing fight. “But we want to send a clear signal to the Central government and prove a point here. We want to teach a lesson to all the MLAs who try such tactics,” he said.