Yedi wins trust vote in Karnataka Assembly

Bengaluru: The three-day-old BJP government in Karnataka headed by BS Yediyurappa on Monday proved its majority in the truncated state Assembly winning the confidence motion by a voice vote in a smooth affair.

Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar announced his resignation soon after Yediyurappa won the trust vote in a process lasting less than an hour after the House met.

With the BJP comfortably placed in the number game after the disqualification of 17 rebel MLAs that reduced the effective strength of the House, the Opposition Congress and JDS did not press for division.

The Speaker declared that the one-line motion expressing confidence in the Ministry headed by Yediyurappa had been adopted by the House.

On the eve of the trust vote, Kumar had disqualified 11 Congress MLAs and three JDS lawmakers till the end of the current term of the House in 2023, in addition to three earlier, bringing down the majority mark to 105, equivalent of the current strength of 105 of the BJP, which also enjoyed the support of an Independent.

The Congress has 66 members, JDS 34, the Speaker one (who has a casting vote in case of a tie) and one expelled BSP member who was thrown out of the party for violating its directive to support the HD Kumaraswamy government during the trust vote on July 23.

The Speaker's action on Sunday had come as a big relief to the BJP which emerged triumphant as expected.

As was also expected, the Speaker announced his resignation after a 14-month-long tenure in office, amid reports that the BJP was mulling moving a no-confidence motion against him.

"I have decided to relieve myself from this office...I have decided to resign," Kumar said and handed over his resignation letter to Deputy Speaker Krishna Reddy.

Kumar said as the Speaker, he had worked according to his "conscience" and in accordance with the Constitution. "I have upheld the dignity of office to the best of my ability," he added.

Moving the confidence motion, Yediyurappa said he would not indulge in "politics of vengeance" and believed in the "forget and forgive principle".

He said the administrative machinery had collapsed and his priority was to bring it back on track. Yediyurappa said he had assumed office in a difficult situation with the state facing drought.