Karnataka's main opposition Congress party on Monday demanded that Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's ministry be sacked if he did not resign on his own.
In a meeting with Governor Rameshwar Thakur, the Congress delegation stressed that the Kumaraswamy government had lost majority support in the assembly.
Kumaraswamy, who met the governor shortly thereafter, sought an opportunity to prove his majority on the floor of the house.
The state is headed inexorably towards elections with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday formally ending its 20-month alliance with the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and seeking immediate polls.
Kumaraswamy had refused to honour a pact reached with the BJP 20 months ago to give up the chief minister's post.
The strained relations between the two partners, leading to all 17 BJP ministers resigning last week, finally snapped on Sunday.