Karnataka floor test: Two Congress MLAs skip oath-taking, BJP has one absentee


Ahead of the crucial floor test in the Karnataka Assembly, the Congress leader DK Shivakumar addressed the media and said that he was confident of Congress-JD(S)’s majority in the House. He added that he doesn’t want to disclose the strategy.

“We don’t want to disclose our strategy. We want to keep the House in order,” he told reporters.

In a major development, two Congress MLAs – Anand Singh and Pratap Gowda Patil – and BJP MLA Somashekhar Reddy have not come to the Assembly for oath-taking yet.

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The current attendance in the House for now stands at — JDS has all 37 present, Congress has 76, and BJP 103.

The absence of three MLAs will automatically bring down the House number to 219 and the mark to prove majority will also reduced to 110.

Among the MLAs who took oath were Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa and ex-CM Siddaramaiah.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had rejected the petition of Congress-JD(S) challenging the appointment of pro tem speaker KG Bopaiah.

The top court ordered live streaming of the proceedings of the trust vote to maintain transparency.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Veerapa Moily has said that the BJP will be exposed.

“BJP will be exposed to the whole world. They know very well that they are 104, still they are trying everything & anything to buy our MLAs. But, our MLAs are intact. Two of our MLAs are still not here, whenever they come they will surely support us,” he said.

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The Congress has maintained so far that MLA Anand Singh will come to the Assembly and vote for the Congress-JDS.