Karnataka floor test: CM Kumaraswamy wins trust vote

HD Kumaraswamy's Vote of Confidence has been approved unanimously by voice vote after BJP MLAs walked out of the Assembly during CM's speech.

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today sought vote of confidence in the Karnataka Assembly for the three-day old Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by him. Kumaraswamy moved the one-line motion soon after the unanimous election of Ramesh Kumar as the speaker of the assembly.

Moving the motion for a floor test, Kumaraswamy said that "the people have not given me a complete mandate. The Opposition feels the mandate is theirs, but I am yet to understand how they believe it to be so. In 2004 also it was a similar situation. I came to the Assembly then and observed the developments and discussions from the last bench. Today, I am being labelled as a controversial politician."

Hitting out at Leader of Opposition BS Yeddyurappa, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that, being a custodian of democracy, how could the BJP leader make a statement stating he would not allow any other party to form the government.

Citing the 2006 JDS-BJP alliance, CM Kumaraswamy said his early association with BJP had caused a strain in his relationship with his father, H D Deve Gowda. Reiterating the secular nature of his father, Kumaraswamy also underlined that the alliance with the Congress was a natural choice.

"The decision to tie up with the Congress now after tying up with the BJP a decade ago is way for him to cleanse himself of the guilt", he said.

Kumaraswamy rejected allegations that Congress and JDS MLAs were kept away from their families. "Last week, Yedyurappa said we have locked our MLAs and kept them away from their families. No MLA or any family felt that [the MLAs had been kept away]," Kumaraswamy said.

"BJP set a new low in Karnataka by introducing operation lotus says Kumaraswamy. What was the need he asked. He also thanked the Supreme Court for giving Yeddyurappa only a day to prove majority," he added.

A day ahead of vote trust, his deputy G Parameshwara of the Congress cast doubts on his term with a stunning comment. Asked yesterday whether Mr Kumaraswamy would stay chief minister for a full five-year term, Mr Parameshwara said: "We have not yet discussed those modalities."

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru on Thursday, he added: "We are also yet to decide on what portfolios have to go to them and what should be with us, then five-year term - whether they should be or we should also...all those modalities we have still not discussed."

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.