By IANS,
Bangalore : The first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka is bracing to seek a vote of confidence in the state legislative assembly Friday, with the support of six independents.
Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa will move a one-line motion in the lower house late afternoon after Governor Rameshwar Thakur addresses a joint session of the legislature around noon.
With 110 legislators in the 225-member assembly, the ruling party has the firm support of the six independents to cross the halfway mark of 113 and prove that it enjoys the confidence of the house to run a stable government.
Of the six independents, five were inducted in the 30-member ministry May 30 when the BJP government assumed office after the assembly elections last month saw it win near majority.
“We have the support of 116 legislators to sail through the trust-vote that may be taken up at the end of the debate on the confidence motion after the chief minister’s reply. It is left to the new speaker to decide whether to put the motion to voice-vote or press for voting by the members of the house,” party spokesperson and cabinet minister Suresh Kumar told IANS Thursday.
Of the 224 elected members, 80 belong to Congress and 28 to the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S). The 225th legislator will be nominated later by the governor on the advice of the government from the Anglo-Indian community as per the constitutional provision.
Exuding confidence of winning the trust-vote, Yeddyurappa told reporters that he was looking forward to the important session where he would present the programmes and policies of the new government for making Karnataka a model state.
“As I said on the day I took oath as chief minister, we will work for the socio-economic development of the state and provide a stable government to ensure regional balance in growth across the state,” Yeddyurappa asserted.
To seek the support of the opposition parties, Yeddyurappa called on former prime minister and JD-S supremo H.D. Deve Gowda, his son and former state chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Congress legislative party (CLP) leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Samajwadi Party’s state unit president and former chief minister S. Bangarappa over the last two days.
Yeddyurappa defeated Bangarappa at the hustings from Shikaripura in Shimoga district, about 330 km from here, in the assembly polls.
Incidentally, it will be the second time when Yeddyurappa will be seeking a trust vote. He aborted a similar attempt in November after he was forced to resign as chief minister of the week-old BJP-led coalition government following the withdrawal of support by its then ally JD-S.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate Jagdish Shettar was declared elected unopposed to the post of assembly speaker. When nominations for the speaker’s post were closed Wednesday, neither Congress nor the JD-S fielded any candidate.
Two motions moved by Yeddyurappa and senior minister K.S. Eswarappa were taken up for consideration by pro-tem speaker K.G. Bhopaiah and approved unanimously by the lower house.
Shettar, a four time legislator from Dharwad in north Karnataka, had earlier refused to accept the speaker’s post, as he was keen on a ministerial berth. His supporters staged protests and burnt a bus in his home town over his exclusion from the ministry last week. He however relented after the party’s central leadership persuaded him to take up the key post.