BJP stages walkout from Karnataka Assembly ahead of floor test
Even as the floor test is underway and the chief minister is speaking, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs on Friday have staged a walked out from the Karnataka Assembly. The floor test is being overseen by Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, who was unanimously elected after the BJP withdrew the nomination of Suresh Kumar.
The floor test comes almost a week after BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa ended his five-day run as CM without going through the motions of a trust vote.
The newly formed JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka under Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy will face a trust vote to prove majority in the Karnataka Assembly.
In the 222-member House where 112 is a simple majority, the JDS-Congress combine has 118 MLAs (JDS 37, Congress 78 and three others), while the BJP has 104 seats. Congress nominee K R Ramesh Kumar was unanimously elected as Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly after senior BJP leader Suresh Kumar withdrew his nomination for the Speaker's post. The new speaker will now preside over the floor test.
The JDS-Congress government replaced the B S Yeddyurappa-led BJP government, which assumed office on May 17 and exited two days later after failing to muster the numbers for a simple majority. The JDS-Congress coalition was forged after the Assembly polls of May 12 threw up a hung verdict.