Yediyurappa wins floor test in Karnataka Assembly by voice vote

Bengaluru, July 29 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Monday won the floor test in the Assembly by voice vote.

"Yediyurappa has won the confidence motion he moved by voice vote with more yes than nos. As there is no demand for division of votes by the opposition leader (Siddaramaiah), I declare the motion passed, proving majority support in the House," Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar declared in the House.

Earlier, Yediyurappa moved the one-line motion minutes after the House began the day-long special session at 11.05 a.m.

"I move the motion, seeking support of all the members from both sides in the House and appeal for unanimous vote in favour of it," said Yediyurappa in Kannada after the Speaker permitted him to seek the trust vote without debate.

The one-line motion was put to voice vote after Congress leader Siddaramaiah and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy spoke against it and slammed the ruling BJP for coming to power through horse-trading and poaching of their rebel legislators.

With the effective House strength reduced to 208 from 225 after 17 rebel legislators of the coalition Congress and JD-S were disqualified by the Speaker on July 25 and July 28, the BJP had the support of 106 members, including one Independent H. Nagesh from Mulbagal assembly segment, about 95 km east of Bengaluru.

In contrast, the coalition allies had only 100 members, including 66 from the Congress and 34 from JD-S against the 105 halfway mark for a simple majority.

The BJP's victory was greeted with cheers and thumping of desks by the treasury benches and boos from the opposition benches.

The chief minister also told the House that soon after assuming office on July 25, he announced Rs 4,000 each to all farmers across the state in addition to the Rs 6,000 the central government is giving under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (scheme) as minimum income support per annum.

"We are also waiving loans with interest raised by weavers across the state till March 31, 2019, by providing Rs 100 crore to compensate the banks which have lent to them," said Yediyurappa.

Welcoming Yediyurappa's assurance to work for the 6.5-crore people in the southern state, Siddaramaiah said he wished the chief minister well and will extend constructive cooperation to the BJP government.

Assuring his party's (JD-S) cooperation to the new government, Kumaraswamy said unlike the BJP, his party would not indulge in horse-trading or in poaching the ruling legislators to bring down the government as they did to his coalition government.

"We will cooperate and support you for the benefit of the people, especially farmers and rural folks who have been reeling under drought due to poor pre-monsoon and insufficient rain in the state," said Kumaraswamy.

Admitting that the coalition allies didn't have the numbers to oppose the motion and defeat it, Siddaramaiah said the allies would not press for division of votes as their combined strength was about 100 after the Speaker disqualified their 17 rebel legislators for abstaining from the House on July 23 in defiance of the party whip when Kumaraswamy had put his confidence motion to vote.