‘Confident’ Yediyurappa all set for Karnataka floor test. A look at numbers
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, who is set to prove his majority in assembly today, exuded confidence that he would sail through the test and started his day with a visit to a temple.
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, who is set to prove his majority in assembly today, exuded confidence that he would sail through the test and started his day with a visit to a temple.
The floor test, in which the BJP is comfortably placed, comes days after the Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JD(S) coalition lost the trust vote in assembly paving way for Yediyurappa to take over as the CM of the state for the fourth time. CM Yediyurappa’s floor test comes a day after Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar disqualified 14 rebel lawmakers whose decision to skip a trust vote last week toppled the state government.
Here’s how the numbers stack up ahead of the floor test:
House strength: 225
Disqualified: 17
Effective strength: 207 + Speaker (can vote in case of a tie)
Votes need to win confidence vote: 104
Congress+ JD(S) -- 100
Congress: 66 + Speaker
JD (S): 34
BJP: 105
BSP: 1 (May abstain)
Independent: 1 (likely to support BJP)
Also read | Ahead of trust vote today, BS Yediyurappa says ‘confident of proving majority’
The Speaker, while disqualifying the 14 legislators – 11 from the Congress and three from its ally, the Janata Dal (Secular) – said they stood disqualified until the term of the current assembly, due to end in 2023, and could not even contest bypolls. The decision also forecloses the possibility of any of the rebel legislators being named as ministers in the new government. He said, however, that they would be free to contest if fresh assembly elections were called.
For Yeddiyurappa, Monday started with prayers at Bengaluru’s Sri Bala Vera Anjaneya temple. The BJP leader had visited the Kadu Malleshwara temple on the day HD-Kumaraswamy-led coalition government lost the trust vote.
Meanwhile, five disqualified Congress MLAs including Byrathi Basavaraj, MTB Nagaraj, ST Somashekhar, who were holed up in Mumbai since they resigned in the first week of July, returned to Bengaluru from Mumbai.
Also read | With 14 MLAs disqualified, Karnataka Speaker blunts BJP’s counterblow
