BJP for the win as Speaker disqualifies all 14 rebel MLAs day before trust vote

Mumbai: Karnataka Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar on Sunday disqualified all of the 14 Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) rebel MLAs who tried to exit the assembly that led to the collapse of the H D Kumaraswamy government over the past week.

The Bharatiya Janata Party state chief B S Yediyurappa was soon appointed the chief minister on Thursday and decided to prove his majority in the assembly on Monday, two days before the deadline set by Governor Vajubhai Vala is to expire.

Yediyurappa now seems to have a big advantage in terms of seats in the Assembly for the floor test to be held on Monday. The BJP has a total of 105 MLAs and can count on one more lawmaker’s support. The Congress-JD(S) coalition that lost power in the trust vote on Tuesday got only 99 votes.

Congress lawmakers including Shrimant Patil, Roshan Baig, Anand Singh, H Vishwanath, ST Somashekhar were stripped off as MLAs of Karnataka Assembly.

"The disqualified MLAs cannot fight elections until the expiry of the term of the 15th assembly," said Speaker Ramesh Kumar.

Karnataka Speaker said that Yediyurappa asked him to oversee vote of confidence on Monday. He also urged all the MLAs to appear for the confidence motion.

Talking to media, Karnataka Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar said: “Where have we reached? The way I am pressurised to deal with current political developments, being a speaker, it has pushed me into a sea of depression.”

On Thursday, the Speaker had disqualified three JD(S) lawmakers. Sunday's disqualifications bring down the strength of the House to 209, and the majority mark slides to 105 - a number the BJP currently has.