‘Ready to wait post midnight for trust vote, please get food’: Yeddyurappa
Yeddyurappa, the 76-year-old BJP leader, pointed out that on Friday Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah, chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and speaker had promised to put trust motion to vote, he appealed that it be concluded today.
Amid slogan shouting and members trooping into the well of the house during the trust vote debate in the Karnataka assembly, opposition leader BS Yeddyurappa declared that he will stay put till midnight for the motion to be moved. Yeddyurappa, in the event of his staying, urged the house to arrange for food.
Last week, on Thursday, about 100 BJP legislators slept in the Karnataka Assembly to protest against the delay in taking the floor test by Chief Minister Kumaraswamy on the confidence motion he moved to prove his Congress-JD-S coalition government has majority.
The legislators had ‘masala dosa’ and curd rice for supper in the assembly lounges. Many went to sleep early after a long day in the House due to heated exchanges and acrimonious scenes in the House, as the ruling combine was reportedly delayed in going through the crucial vote.
Yeddyurappa, the 76-year-old BJP leader, pointed out that on Friday Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah, chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and speaker had promised to put trust motion to vote, he appealed that it be concluded today.
The speaker intervened urging Congress-JD(S) coalition MLAs to allow opposition leader Yeddyurappa to speak. The speaker even warned the protesting members that if required he will sit till morning.
The speaker further advised the members to not let emotions get the better of them.
At this point, Yeddyurappa again got up and urged the chair to put the motion to vote.
Taking on rebel MLAs in the Karnataka assembly for their statement that they have no vested interest in resigning and it was voluntary, JDS member A T Ramaswamy dared them to declare they will not contest elections in future.
“If the MLAs who resigned say that they don’t have vestedinterest and greed for, let them declare they won’t contest elections in future,” Ramaswamy said.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, he also criticised facilitation of “zero traffic” when the disgruntled MLAs of the ruling Congress and JDS arrived here on July 10 and travelled by road to the Vidhana Soudha to submit their resignations to Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar.
Raising the issue of alleged zero traffic ensured for the rebel MLAs, who came here from Mumbai and went back on July 10, he sought to know from Home Minister M B Patil how such “special treatment” was given to them when there was “no provision” in the law for it.
Intervening, Speaker Kumar sought an explanation from the minister.
In response, Patil denied ensuring “zero traffic” for the movement of the rebel legislators.
“We did not provide zero traffic. Since the Governor had directedpolice to provide adequate security to them (rebel MLAs), only protection was provided. They took 40 minutes to reach from HAL Airport,” he said.
Alleging that democracy was being murdered in Karnataka in the wake of the continuing standoff over the trust vote, BJP General Secretary Muralidhar Rao urged the Governor of the state to protect the principles of democracy.
“People who talk about democracy, people who talk about moral politics, those who talk about due process... we are warning them all, the system of democracy is being murdered in Karnataka.
“The BJP will not accept this. We urge the (Karnataka) Governor to protect (democracy),” Rao told reporters.
He claimed that the Karnataka Assembly Speaker was violating the law and subverting the spirit of the Constitution by conducting the debate on the trust vote in a “never-ending” manner.
The Congress-JDS government in Karnataka has been rocked by rebellion by a section of its MLAs, threatening its survival.
For the third day running, the Karnataka assembly is debating the confidence motion moved by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy. The debate on the confidence motion prolonged to Friday, with the ruling coalition defying the two deadlines set by Governor Vajubhai Vala -- to complete the process by 1.30 PM on Friday and later by the end of the day.
The proceedings were adjourned till Monday after the Speaker extracted a commitment from the government that the process would be completed by Monday itself.
(With agency inputs)
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