Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa yesterday won a trust vote in the assembly.
“Yediyurappa has won the confidence motion he moved by voice vote with more yes than nos. As there is no demand for division of votes by the opposition leader (Siddaramaiah of the Congress), I declare the motion passed, proving majority support in the house,” Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar declared.
Earlier, Yediyurappa moved the one-line motion minutes after the assembly began the day-long special session at 11.05am.
“I move the motion, seeking support of all the members from both sides and appeal for unanimous vote in favour of it,” Yediyurappa said.
The one-line motion was put to voice vote after Siddaramaiah and Janata Dal – Secular (JD-S) leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy spoke against it and slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party for coming to power through horse-trading and poaching of rebel legislators.
With the effective strength reduced to 208 from 225 after 17 rebel legislators of the coalition Congress and JD-S were disqualified by the speaker on July 25 and July 28, the BJP had the support of 106 members, including one independent H Nagesh.
In contrast, the coalition allies had only 100 members, including 66 from the Congress and 34 from JD-S against the 105 halfway mark for a simple majority.
The BJP’s victory was greeted with cheers and thumping of desks by the treasury benches and boos from the opposition side.
The chief minister also told the assembly that soon after assuming office on July 25, he announced Rs4,000 each to all farmers across the state in addition to the Rs6,000 the central government is giving under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (scheme) as minimum income support per annum.
“We are also waiving loans with interest raised by weavers across the state till March 31, 2019, by providing Rs100 crore to compensate the banks which have lent them,” said Yediyurappa.
Welcoming Yediyurappa’s assurance to work for the 6.5-crore people in the southern state, Siddaramaiah said he wished the chief minister well and will extend constructive co-operation to the BJP government.
Assuring JD-S’ co-operation to the new government, Kumaraswamy said unlike the BJP, his party would not indulge in horse-trading or in poaching the ruling legislators to bring down the government as they did to his coalition.
“We will co-operate and support you for the benefit of the people, especially farmers and rural folks who have been reeling under drought due to poor pre-monsoon and insufficient rain in the state,” said Kumaraswamy.
Admitting that the coalition allies didn’t have the numbers to oppose the motion and defeat it, Siddaramaiah said the allies would not press for a division of votes as their combined strength was about 100 after the speaker disqualified their 17 rebel legislators for abstaining from the assembly on July 23 in defiance of the party whip when Kumaraswamy had put his confidence motion to vote.
Meanwhile, two Congress rebels, Ramesh Jarkiholi and Mahesh Kumathalli, yesterday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the speaker’s decision to disqualify them.
Independent MLA R Shankar also moved a separate plea.