Karnataka floor test: Siddaramaiah reaches Hyderabad to bring back MLAs for trust vote

The Supreme Court today ordered that a floor test be held in the Karnataka assembly at 4 PM tomorrow.

Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has reached Hotel Taj Krishna in Hyderabad where the Congress MLAs have been lodged to prevent from being poached ahead of the crucial floor test. Siddaramaiah will now accompany them back to Bengaluru where the newly instated BJP-led government would be facing a floor test in the Karnataka assembly.

Amid a power struggle in Karnataka, some of the newly-elected JD(S) and Congress MLAs from the state arrived in Hyderabad this morning and were put up in two hotels.

"Siddaramaiah is coming to Hyderabad. He will address legislators on the future course of action. We may go back to Bengaluru tonight," JD (S) MLC Basavaraj told PTI earlier today (May 17).

"We are trying for flight tickets. If we get we will fly. But getting tickets for flight appears to be difficult," he said when asked how they were planning to return to Bengaluru.

The Supreme Court today ordered that a floor test be held in the Karnataka assembly at 4 PM tomorrow to confirm whether newly-appointed BJP Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa enjoys a majority in the state. Political observers felt Hyderabad had been chosen for keeping the MLAs together owing to the rapport that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had with JD (S) chief and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.

Fearing poaching of their legislators by BJP, the Congress and JD(S) had earlier decided to fly them out of Karnataka. BJP legislature party leader B S Yeddyurappa was yesterday sworn-in as the chief minister of Karnataka. The BJP has 104 MLAs in the House. The Congress won 78 seats, while the JD(S) was victorious in 37 constituencies. Polling was held in 222 of the state's 224 seats, for which results were declared on May 15, delivering a hung House.