The newly-formed BJP government in Karnataka is set to face the floor test in the Assembly today to prove its majority. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Sunday while talking to reporters said that he was “100 per cent confident” of proving majority in the House.
The trust vote comes a day after Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar disqualified 14 rebel legislators belonging to the Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) bringing down the majority mark in the assembly within the reach of the newly formed BJP government.
The MLAs were disqualified for defying their parties to attend the House on July 23 when former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy moved the confidence motion and lost by 6 votes.
The Speaker had, on Thursday, disqualified three MLAs and as of Sunday, the strength of the assembly has come down to 208.
Meanwhile, the 14 disqualified lawmakers said they would challenge the Speaker’s decision in the Supreme Court today.
After failing a trust vote in the assembly in Karnataka earlier this week, former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy rejected reports on Saturday that a section of his party’s legislators is in favour of providing outside support to the newly formed BJP government
Kumaraswamy was referring to a remark by Janata Dal-Secular legislator GT Devegowda who had claimed that some lawmakers talked of providing outside support to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s government in a party meeting on Friday.
After failing the floor test on the confidence motion he moved on July 18 during the 10-day monsoon session to prove he had the majority, Kumaraswamy resigned on July 23. Accepting his resignation, the Governor told him not to take any policy or executive decisions as a caretaker Chief Minister.
This is Yediyurappa’s fourth stint as the chief minister. His last stint was simply two-days long. He resigned as Chief Minister of Karnataka, two days after he was administered the oath of office by Governor Vajubhai Vala.
Meanwhile, Karnataka’s ruling BJP on Sunday night issued a whip to all its 105 legislators to attend the Assembly on Monday from 11 am when the trust vote will be moved by the Chief Minister for proving majority.
About 100 of the saffron party’s 105 legislators have been staying at a private resort in the city’s northern outskirts since July 12 when the 10-day monsoon session of the Assembly commenced and the month-long political crisis led to the fall of the 14-month-old JD-S-Congress coalition government on July 23.