Cong-JD(S) coalition govt falls, Yeddyurappa set to become Karnataka CM for fourth time
Bengaluru, Jul 23 (IBNS): The one-year-old-Karnataka government, which was formed on an alliance between the Congress party and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), toppled on Tuesday as HD Kumaraswamy failed to win the trust vote, paving way for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader BS Yeddyurappa to become the Chief Minister for the fourth time.
The BJP won 105 votes to the Congress-Janata Dal Secular's 99 in the trust vote, which was scheduled to happen last week.
In the 225-member Karnataka Assembly, 20 MLAs were absent during the floor test.
The Congress-JDS government fell into the minority status after 16 rebel MLAs – 13 from Congress and 3 from JD(S) had quit their seats. Two independent MLAs had also pulled out their support.
After winning the floor test, Yeddyurappa said: "It is a victory of democracy, it will be a new era of development. People were fed up of this government."
He said now that his party has won, the government would focus on farmers.
Calling it the "Game of Karma", BJP tweeted that: "It's the end of an era of corrupt and unholy alliance. We promise stable and able governance to the people of Karnataka. Together we will make Karnataka prosperous again."
Game Of Karma
— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) July 23, 2019
It’s the victory of people of Karnataka.
— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) July 23, 2019
It’s the end of an era of corrupt & unholy alliance.
We promise a stable & able governance to the people of Karnataka.
Together we will make Karnataka prosperous again ✌ðŸ½Democracy restored in Karnataka as the power greedy unholy alliance of Congress & JDS bits dust
— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) July 23, 2019
People had blessed us as single largest party
We will soon form a government that will upload the dignity & sanctity of our land
We will script the era of development pic.twitter.com/AVQ0ooLzgh
Yeddyurappa, 76, served as CM in the last term for just two-and-a-half days.
He has been able to take up the role of CM after the BJP made an exception to their cut-off age of 75 years for veteran leaders of the party in Karnataka.
In May last year, the BJP veteran failed to gain the majority support and lost to Congress-JDS pair who guarded their lawmakers from attempts of luring.
Yeddyurappa has been chief minister in 2007 and 2008 but failed to complete a full term.
Over the past two weeks, Karnataka government had been facing a major crisis with 16 rebel lawmakers quitting the Congress and outgoing Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's JD(S).
The rebel lawmakers flew to Mumbai and lodged themselves at a five-star hotel where the Congress's chief troubleshooter DK Shivakumar was refused.
Earlier in the day, outgoing chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had said he was ready for the trust vote that has been pending since last week.
Kumaraswamy has said he was not worried about the results of the trust vote.
In an emotional speech, the outgoing CM said he would "happily give up... rather than all this".
"I have acted with decency. The last 14 months has been - 'will they stay or will they go' - and I thank my party leaders for staying through it all. The objections to us started on Day 1 of the coalition government," he added.
Image credit: Official Twitter page of BJP Karnataka
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