Yeddyurappa and Sriramulu resign from the Lok Sabha

New Delh: Bharatiya Janata Party chief minister of Karnataka and Lok Sabha member from Shimoga constituency B S Yediyurappa and B Sriramulu from the Bellary (SC) constituency have resigned from their respective Lok Sabha seats. Speaker has accepted their resignations. Both of them have been elected for Karnataka Assembly and if the BJP is able to prove its majority Sriramulu is likely to anointed as the deputy chief minister.

Just before the floor test in the Karnataka Assembly, they have handed over their resignation to the Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and she accepted it. The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a floor test, which is scheduled to take place at 4 pm on Saturday to determine whether the day-old BS Yeddyurappa government has the support of the requisite number of MLAs to retain its power in Karnataka.

Presently, the BJP is eight seats short of the majority mark -112 while the Congress-JD-S coalition claims to have the support of 116 members. Yeddyurappa government has to take a trust vote and prove its majority to survive in the state. The Congress-JD-S alliance termed Karnataka governor's invite to Yeddyurappa 'an encounter of the constitution'.

Yeddyurappa's swearing-in ceremony took place after a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court refused to block Vala's invitation to Yeddyurappa in a pre-dawn hearing on Thursday. Ahead of the trust vote, the newly elected JD(S) and Congress MLAs from Karnataka, who had been camping in Hyderabad to avoid any poaching bids, on Friday left for Bengaluru to attend the crucial floor test in Karnataka Assembly on Saturday.

As per the Supreme Court order, the third-time Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa will have to take floor test at 4pm on Saturday to confirm whether he enjoys the majority in the 224-member House. However the present strength is 221with two vacant seats and H D Kumarswamy having won on two seats. Yeddyurappa claimed having magic number in the Assembly. Both BJP's Yeddyurappa and former CM Siddaramaiah, the leader of the Congress legislature party, say they are confident of their numbers.

The Congress and the JD(S) dropped their demand in the Supreme Court to change a pro-tem speaker. Hearing a Congress plea, the court ordered that local channels be given live feed of trust vote proceedings in Karnataka in order to ensure transparency. Meanwhile, Janata Dal (Secular) and Congress MLAs from Karnataka, who were camping in Hyderabad, reached Bengaluru on Saturday. Alleging poaching attempts by the BJP, the Congress-JD(S) combine had shifted its MLAs to prevent what they called horse-trading.

Yeddyurappa and Siddaramaiah have already takne oath as MLAs. "Live broadcast of floor test would be the best way to ensure transparency of proceedings," says the Supreme Court. Justice AK Sikri asks who will conduct floor test, if pro-tem speaker will only administer oath. Sibal wants trust vote to be conducted by segregating MLAs. Additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta points voting will be telecast on TV channels.