In a major setback to the ruling Congress in Karnataka, a no confidence motion moved by them to dislodge the chairman of the legislative Council DH Shankaramurthy of the BJP has been defeated on Thursday. The BJP is all praise for the JD(S) and its members for their support. The defeat tasted by the Congress is politically significant and also points to the importance of the JD(S) in the ensuing elections.
The no-confidence motion moved by Congress member VS Ugrappa was rejected by a slender margin of just one vote to 36-37, and the defeat is going to be costly for Siddaramaiah, who has been asked to lead the party in the ensuing Assembly polls.
As the council began, the Deputy Chairman Marithibbe Gowda, before putting the motion to vote, took strong objection to charges levelled against Chairman of the council DH Shankaramurthy and put the motion on to vote. He also ordered not to record the allegations made by the Congress member Ugrappa, who wanted to unseat Shankaramurthy.
He said “In your motion you have not given any reason and now you are making severe allegations without any proof and it cannot be accepted by the House.”
As it was crucial, the Congress sought the support of the JD(S) to remove the BJP candidate on the pretext of secular parties joining hands to defeat communal force retaining power. Congress even agreed to make JD(S) senior leader Basavaraj Horatti as the next chairman. However, JD(S) State president HD Kumaraswamy opted to continue to support BJP and avoid attracting criticism from the public.
A few Congress leaders felt that the decision to move the no-confidence motion against the chairman was taken without making effort to take JD (S) into confidence and said it was a bad move on the part of the party leadership.
When the resolution moved by VS Ugrappa and other members of the ruling party was put to vote by vice-chairman Marithibbe Gowda, who was at the chair, it fell through with 37 members voting against it and 36 in favour. Janata Dal (S) in a tactical move supported the main Opposition BJP.
The council has a strength of 74 seats, with one seat vacant due to the death of Vimala Gowda of the BJP.
BJP defeated the motion with its 23 members along with 13 from JD(S) and two independents — Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and DU Mallikarjun.
When the count was made with the chair asking members to vote for and against by standing up row-wise, the ruling party fell by just one vote. Gowda did not vote as he could vote only in an event of a tie. Soon after the vote, Gowda announced that the no-confidence motion was defeated.
Shankaramurthy was elected as the chairman five years ago after the BJP succeeded in getting the support of JD(S) with an understanding that it would support the JD(S) candidate as vice-chairman and Gowda was nominated. JD(S) floor leader Basavaraj Horatti said that his party leadership had issued a whip to vote for Murthy and all the members of his party voted against the resolution.
Rejecting the charges levelled by Congress member Ugrappa, Shankaramurthy who sat along with other BJP members said, he had acted in true spirit of the elder’s Chamber and had been impartial and gave equal opportunities to all party members. He said his life is an open book and all the financial dealings of his family were very clean. He thanked JD(S) supremo HD Devegowda and state unit president HD Kumaraswamy for their support and said he was overwhelmed by their gesture.
Kumaraswamy said today’s defeat of the motion was not a new development as BJP and JD(S) had come together in 2015 to elect the chairman and vice-chairman of the upper house. He blamed the Congress for not consulting with his party before it moved the no confidence motion. He said “The Congress leaders did not take JD-S leaders into confidence before deciding to move the no-confidence motion against Murthy. So, we decided to vote against it.”
Congress’s Karnataka unit chief G Parameshwara had met JD-S supremo HD Deve Gowda on Tuesday evening to seek his party’s support for the motion but the former Prime Minister advised the Congress leader to discuss it with Kumaraswamy.
“No Congress leader consulted me till today (Thursday) morning. Congress leaders offered through the media the chairman’s post to the JD-S in lieu of support but did not convey it to me,” Kumaraswamy added.