The trust vote proceedings in the Karnataka Assembly (Vidhana Soudha) began with the speech by Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa at 4 pm on Saturday. His speech was mainly revolved around the plight of farming community.
There were speculations that he may end his speech with the announcement of his resignation as chief minister, without facing the no-trust motion.
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Earlier, the MLAs of the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular), reached the Karnataka Assembly to participate in the floor test at 4 pm on Saturday, as ruled by the Supreme Court. The proceedings began with the oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected legislators.
Both the sides — Congress-JDS and BJP — have been claiming that they have the numbers to prove majority in the House.
As the Karnataka threw up a hung Assembly, the Congress and JD(S) didn’t waste much time in stitching up a post-poll alliance hoping a re-run of Goa, where the Governor had invited a post-poll alliance to form the government.
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Initially the trends had shown that BJP was marching towards the victory and the party workers had broken into celebrations. However, the euphoria didn’t last long as BJP was restricted to a number which made it the single largest party, but still some feet away from the magical mark. BJP bagged 104 seats and requires 8 more seats to win the floor test.
On Thursday, BJP leader Yeddyurappa sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. Without revealing the names of any MLAs, the BJP has just maintained that they have the numbers and that they will easily prove majority in the House.
The Congress and JD(S) combine has slammed the saffron party claiming that all their MLAs are with them and that BJP is only making claims without any solid numbers in their bag.
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Congress on Friday had alleged that their MLA Anand Singh has been abducted, but even then exuded confidence that he will be present in the House and vote for Congress.
The Congress and JD(S) had already submitted a document to the Governor Vajubhai Vala with the signatures of their MLAs and asserted that they enjoy the majority, while BJP, on the other hand, has failed in producing the names of eight more required MLAs.