Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Friday won the trust vote with 117 members of the Congress-JD(S) coalition, including two Independents, voting in favour of the trust motion, amid walkout by the BJP members in the Assembly.
Before the motion was moved, the House witnessed a fiery war of words between Kumaraswamy and leader of the Opposition BS Yeddyurappa. All of 104 BJP members led by Yeddyurappa staged a walkout in protest. With the Opposition benches empty, the newly elected Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar declared the confidence motion won by a voice vote.
After addressing the members and replying to an emotional speech by Yeddyurappa, Kumaraswamy moved the motion, saying, “I seek the support of this House for the confidence motion”.
The Speaker then put the motion to vote, which was backed by 36 of the JD(S), 77 of the Congress, and one each of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janata Party and an Independent.
Though the Assembly strength is 225, including one nominated member, election was held on May 12 in 222 constituencies only. The result threw up a hung House with the BJP emerging as the single-largest party with 104 seats.
Governor Vajubhai Vala first invited Yeddyurappa to form a Government and after he resigned as Chief Minister without proving his majority, the Governor extended the invitation to Kumaraswamy and gave him 15 days to prove the majority on the floor of the House.
Earlier in the day, the BJP pulled out of race for Speaker’s post by withdrawing its nominee S Sureshkumar. Both Kumaraswamy and Yeddy-urappa escorted newly elected Speaker Kumar to his chair.
This is the second time Kumar has been elected as the speaker in Karnataka. Earlier he was the Speaker of the Assembly from 1994 to 1999.
Moving the trust motion, Kumaraswamy spoke about circumstances in which he became the Chief Minister and explained in detail how he accepted to join the coalition with the Congress to keep the BJP at bay.
“We will be stable for five years. We will work for the people. We are not here to fulfill our personal interests. I am also pained that the people have not placed their trust on me,” he said.
“I am not hankering for power... nor my (Gowda) family... we have spent much of our political life in the Opposition,” Kumaraswamy said.
Defending his decision to form the Government in alliance with the Congress, he said he was trying to correct the mistake he made in 2006, by joining hands with the BJP, which was a decision that had hurt his father.
Hitting out at Yeddyurappa, the CM said 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. “He is the custodian of democracy. We are now 118 in strength, including Congress, Janata Dal (S), BSP and Independents. We submitted the letter to the Governor requesting him to allow us to form the government. However, he chose to invite the single largest party and gave them 15 days’ time to prove their majority. This has not happened in other states,” Kumaraswamy said, as he moved the motion for the floor test.
“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,” he said.
IN his speech, Yeddyurappa warned Congress that JD(S) has a history of betrayal. He alleged that there are several charges of corruption against the Gowda family. He warned that the JD(S) had betrayed BJP in the past and may do the same with the Congress. He warned of a Statewide protest if Kumaraswamy did not waive farm loans in 24 hours.
“It was you who had promised waiving farm loans within 24 hours (after assuming office). The farmers will not be ready to buy your stories that you head a coalition Government and it has its own compulsions. You have to announce it in this special session itself. Else we will prepare an action plan to launch our agitation across the State,” Yeddyurappa said.