Karnataka: Days after taking oath, BS Yediyurappa wins trust vote
What's the story
BJP's BS Yediyurappa won the trust vote on Monday, days after he took oath as Karnataka's Chief Minister.
He was sworn-in as the state's CM after the Congress-JD(S) coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy collapsed on Tuesday last week.
Ahead of the floor test, Yediyurappa had exuded confidence saying he would sail through easily and begin work soon.
Here's what happened.
Collapse
A quick recap on how Yediyurappa became CM again
Karnataka's politics was jolted by a crisis when 18 MLAs resigned from the coalition government. After days of drama, Kumaraswamy appeared for and lost the trust vote on Tuesday.
On Friday, Yediyurappa staked claim to form the government and by 6:30 PM took oath as CM for the fourth time.
His last stint as CM in 2018 lasted merely two and a half days.
Statement
After proving majority, Yediyurappa wants to get to work
On Sunday, Yediyurappa presided over BJP's Legislative Party meeting in Bengaluru.
Later, the 76-year-old leader said, "Today (Sunday) in our Legislative Party meeting we have discussed in detail about tomorrow's program in the Assembly. Tomorrow (Monday) I will move the confidence motion in House. After that, I will introduce the Finance Bill as well."
He hoped Congress and JD(S) will support him too.
Hotel politics
Unwilling to take chances, BJP shifted its MLAs to hotel
In an attempt to keep its flock together, BJP shifted all its legislators to hotel Chancery Pavilion for the night.
"Apart from our 105 MLAs, we have also the support of one or two independent MLAs. We are confident of proving our majority on the floor of Assembly," said BJP's state unit secretary, Ravi Kumar.
Separately, Sriramulu said many topics were discussed at the meeting.
Advantage
With disqualification of rebel MLAs, BJP's task just got easier
Before the trust vote, speaker KR Ramesh Kumar disqualified 14 MLAs, giving an advantage to BJP.
In total, 17 legislators have been disqualified till now. This brought the effective strength of the Assembly to 207, and the majority mark to 104, a number which was well within the reach of BJP.
To note, all legislators have been disqualified till 2023.
Reactions
After Yediyurappa's win, Ramesh resigned from speaker post
Notably, soon after Yediyurappa proved majority, Ramesh, who belongs to Congress, tendered his resignation with immediate effect. Exiting the post, he gave his best wishes.
Earlier, Ramesh's decision to disqualify rebel MLAs was welcomed by former CM Siddaramaiah.
The Congress veteran tweeted, "This decision of speaker will send strong signals for all the representatives in the country who might fall for @BJP4India's trap."
Plans
However, MLAs said they would challenge the decision in SC
Obviously, the rebel MLAs, who can't contest by-elections, are upset with what Ramesh did. JD(S) MLA AH Vishwanath said he and other MLAs would approach the Supreme Court.
"The disqualification is against the law... just under a whip served on them, you cannot force the legislators to come to the House," Vishwanath said.
Meanwhile, five disqualified MLAs returned to Bengaluru earlier today.