Bengaluru: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has directed lone party MLA N Mahesh from Kollegal (Karnataka) to support chief minister Kumaraswamy in the trust vote.

Mayawati asked N Mahesh to vote in favour of the Karnataka coalition government, that is likely to go for floor test today (July 22).

A post on her Twitter handle read, "BSP chief Mayawati has directed Karnataka BSP MLA to vote in favour of CM Shri HD Kumaraswamy's government."

Following the resignation of 15 MLAs from the coalition government, chief minister HD Kumaraswamy had asked Speaker Ramesh Kumar to allot him time to prove majority. The motion was moved on Thursday (July 19), but due to various reasons, the floor test was not held on that day nor the next day.

With 15 MLAs refusing to come back, only one MLA Ramalinga Reddy withdrew his resignation and took part in the assembly session.

Mayawati had earlier asked her party MLA, Mahesh to abstain himself from taking part in the trust vote. Though Mahesh had extended his support to the coalition government, he was not seen in the assembly proceedings.

BJP staged an all-night protest on Thursday inside the assembly as the trust vote was not held. Since then, for various reasons, trust vote is being postponed.

Two Independent MLAs R Shankar and H Nagesh, who have also resigned as MLAs, moved the Supreme Court on Sunday (July 21), requesting the apex court to direct Karnataka government to hold the trust vote before 5 pm, today (July 22).

Earlier, on July 20, Karnataka chief minister Kumaraswamy and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao moved the SC accusing Governor Vajubhai Vala of interfering in the assembly's proceedings.