Kumaraswamy loses confidence motion

The Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka fell on Tuesday following 11 days of high drama and failing to prove its majority in the House.

Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy lost the Motion of Confidence by six votes after 15 disgruntled MLAs quit, plunging the government into minority.

The BJP is planning to stake claim to form the government in Karnataka on Wednesday, according to party sources.

The party said “it’s the victory of people of Karnataka and the end of an era of corrupt and unholy alliance. We promise a stable and able governance to the people of Karnataka. Together we will make Karnataka prosperous again.”

Reacting to the rebel MLAs’ actions, former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah dubbed it a ‘wholesale trade’. He said: “Why don’t you (BJP) admit that you engineered defections? A cat thinks the entire world has closed its eyes when it closes its eyes and drinks milk. The entire State knows that the BJP is doing the same thing.

“How can a government survive if there’s wholesale trade of MLAs? The BJP needs at least eight more MLAs to reach the majority mark of 113.. I don’t think the people of Karnataka will accept this undemocratic and unconstitutional means of gaining majority,” he said.

‘You won’t survive’

The BJP should understand that this will boomerang on them. It’s very rare for a government based on defections to survive. Targeting BJP’s State unit President, he said, “Yeddyurappa, it will be very difficult for you to run this government with so many defectors. What happened in 2008? The defectors and your partymen said they had no trust in you. Did they allow you to be the CM for five years? The same independents and defectors who joined you through operationKamala rebelled against you,” he said.

“In 2018, you had the support of just one independent member. How will you form the government without defecting our MLAs,” he said.

“You inaugurated a chapter of defection from that moment itself. Fortunately, the Supreme Court gave you only 24 hours for the floor test. Had you got 15 days like the Governor had given, the murder of democracy that’s happening now would have happened that day itself,” he charged.

“In our pursuit of power, we must not try to shake the deep roots of democracy in the country,” he said. The BJP would have been a strong Opposition. But its desperate attempts to form government using anti-constitutional methods are condemnable, he said.

No elected government will survive if this ‘disease of defection’ is not rooted out.

Congress leader DK Shivakumar said, “The BJP has a mandate to run the country. You have an opportunity to change a system where horse trading is a norm. Take the lead and we will be with you. End this murder of democracy.

“I congratulate Yeddyurappa, the star of Operation Lotus,” he said. “You are making a seventh untiring attempt to bring down the government,” he said.

Reacting to the fall of the JD(S)-Congress coalition, BJP State President BS Yeddyurappa said, “ I want to assure the people of Karnataka that a new era of development will start now .

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