Karnataka CM agrees to second trust vote on Oct 14

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa has agreed to hold another trust vote on the floor of the state assembly on Oct 14.

“I am confident of winning the vote of confidence,” Yeddyurappa told reporters Tuesday evening.

He would prove him majority on the floor of the house by 11 am on Thursday (Oct 14).

In another development, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday reserved decision on disqualified MLAs till Monday (Oct 18).

The High Court said it will give its verdict on the disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs, 11 from BJP and five independent on Oct 18.

It is a open war between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka and state governor H M Bhardwaj who called the state assembly voice vote of Monday won by Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa a farce, inviting the wrath of the BJP which demanded his recall.

Describing as a ‘farce’ the vote of confidence in the Karnataka Assembly, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday demanded that disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs be revoked and a fresh voting held on the floor of the House.

He ruled out suggestions that the Congress was behind the BJP rebels.

“The vote of confidence should take place on the floor of the House. Unfortunately, the Chief Minister has not done that. The MLAs were disqualified before the vote against law,” Azad told reporters here.

Supporting the Congress, Prakash Karat, General Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) said: ?The vote of confidence conducted in the Karnataka Assembly was farcical and a gross violation of democratic norms.

?The CPI(M) reiterate that a proper vote of confidence must be taken in the Assembly in which all MLAs are allowed to participate and the vote recorded.?

?Without doing so, the Yeddyurappa government cannot be treated as having acquired a vote of confidence,? Karat added.

The governor said he is ready to give Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa another chance to prove his majority by Oct 14.

Bhardwaj said he is “doing charity” by offering another chance to the CM to prove his majority.

The BJP on Tuesday reacted angrily to Governor HR Bhardwaj?s remarks and stance and demanded his recall.

The governor has lost all impartiality and there is no constitutional crisis except for the one created by the gubernatorial office, said senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley told reporters on Tuesday.

“We are of the considered opinion that there is neither a political crisis, nor any constitutional crisis in the state. It is a crisis being deliberately generated by the governor of the state. I will give you five facts, which clearly demonstrated that the governor of the state acted beyond the constitution. He has defied all norms of politics,” said the leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, who won the controversial vote of confidence in Assembly on Monday, has planned to move to New Delhi later on Tuesday to line up his ‘loyal MLAs’ before the President, even as a ruling by the state high court on disqualification of 16 rebel legislators is awaited.

The dramatic events kept unfolding since October six after 19 MLAs revolted against the Chief Minister. But three of them later returned.

On Monday, hours before the vote of confidence, Speaker K G Bopaiah disqualified the 16 rebel legislators,11 belonging the BJP and five independent, under anti-defection law, which was later challenged in the Karnataka High Court.

Union Home ministry sources said the Centre was contemplating imposition of President’s rule in the state.