6 June:A week after assuming office following a landmark electoral victory, the BJP government led by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in Karnataka on Friday won a trust vote in the state assembly by voice vote amidst a walkout by opposition Congress.
Yeddyurappa, moving the one-line motion that read "this House expresses its confidence in the council of Ministers headed by B S Yeddyurappa", said he was seeking the trial of strength under the direction from Governor Rameshwar Thakur and requested the opposition to ensure its passage without any debate.
Differing with the Chief Minister’s contention, Congress leader M Mallikarjun Kharge said going by the political upheavals the state witnessed during the two coalition governments earlier, it was necessary to debate on the motion since BJP on its own did not have simple majority, which it cobbled up with the support of six independents.
Forcing a two-hour-discussion, Kharge charged Yeddyurappa with resorting to "blackmail" politics by not allocating portfolios to Ministers even a week after they were sworn-in, apparently to sail through the trust vote.
Speaker Jagadish Shettar allowed discussion after Minister S Suresh Kumar said the government was ready for a debate.
Yeddyurappa, in his opening remarks after moving the motion, said "a new era has begun in the history of South with BJP getting an overwhelming support from people to provide a single party stable government in Karnataka.
Yeddyurappa said people voted BJP to power after they were dejected over coalition governments.
His remarks were hotly contested by Kharge and Siddaramaiah (Cong) who argued that the electoral mandate was again for a hung House and even though the saffron party emerged as the single largest party with 110 seats, did not have the required 113 seats for simple majority.
Siddaramaiah cautioned Yeddyurappa claiming that the Damocle’s sword was hanging over the BJP government in the form of "dissension" among those denied Ministerial berths.
For his part, Yeddyurappa hit out at Congress leaders for their remarks that BJP had no mandate to rule, saying "in 2004 when BJP emerged as the single largest party with 79 seats, it was Congress, which had been "rejected" by people, which had formed a coalition government".
Similar was the case of Congress at the Centre which is ruling now despite having 145 MPs out of 543 Lok Sabha strength, he said.Kharge said the party was not satisfied with the Chief Minister’s reply and led his party members out of the House.
The debate on the motion of confidence was converted into a discussion on shortage of fertilizer and seeds with the opposition criticising the government for its ‘failure’ in addressing issues of farmers.
Former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S) said farmers in the state had to bear the brunt of police lathis for demanding fertilizer and seeds by a government that was sworn-in to office in the name of farmers.
He was taking a dig at Yeddyurappa who took oath in the name of farming community.Yeddyurappa replying to the discussions, assured members that he would lead a delegation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in about two days to take up the issue.
Though the state faced fertilizer shortage, the situation was comfortable on the supply front of the seeds, he said.Yeddyurappa appealed to farmers not to resort to distress purchase anticipating fertilizer scarcity.
Responding to demand for slashing sales tax on petrol and diesel, he said the state cabinet will take a decision soon.After the debate, the Speaker put the motion to voice vote and declared that the House has approved the motion.
BJP Ministers and members gathered around a beaming Yeddyurappa to compliment him for winning the trust vote.
The scenes witnessed on Friday in the state assembly were in contrast to those in 19th November last, when Yeddyurappa was forced to demit office a week after being sworn-in in the wake of JDS, his coalition partner, issuing a whip to vote out the government.
The assembly will be reconvened on 23rd June to take up motion of thanks to the Governor for his address to the joint session on Friday.
Karnataka budget session by 10th July
The BJP government in Karnataka has decided to convene the Budget session by 10th July.A decision to this effect was adopted at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in Bangalore on Thursday.
The state would take a call on the issue of slashing the sales tax and entry tax on petroleum products in the wake of demands following a steep hike in prices, during the budget session, minister V S Acharya told reporters.
Hours after the Centre announced increase in prices of petroleum products on Wednesday, Yeddyurappa had firmly ruled out reduction in sales tax and entry tax.
Acharya, however, said the cabinet decided against revising bus fares of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport services.
He said the meeting decided to authorise the Chief Minister to nominate a member of the Anglo Indian Community to the state assembly. Courtsey: DD NEWS