Kumaraswamy Govt falls after losing trust vote 99-105

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, July 23, 2019: The Congress-JD(S) coalition govt has fallen after getting 99 votes in favor of the confidence motion. 105 MLAs voted against the motion.

The coalition had also tried its best to delay the trust vote by as much as is possible but Speaker KR Ramesh eventually called for the process to start Tuesday evening.

It could be a massive shot in the arm for the Bharatiya Janata Party with BS Yeddyurappa flashing the ’Victory’ symbol after the result of the trust vote was announced by the Speaker.

After the trust vote victory, BS Yeddyurappa said, "it is victory of democracy. People were fed up with the Kumaraswamy government. I want to assure people of Karnataka that a new era of development will start now. We assure the farmers that we will give more importance to them in the coming days. We will take an appropriate decision at the soonest".

Missing from action in today’s trust vote were 15 rebel MLAs, 2 MLAs in hospital, 2 Independents who did not turn up as well as one BSP MLA who too did not show up.

After clashes between BJP and Congress workers were reported in Bengaluru on Tuesday evening, the police declared the imposition of Section 144 across the city. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) prevents the assembly of five or more people at one spot. The restrictions came in place at 6 pm on Tuesday.

Ahead of trust vote in the assembly, Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy says he is ready to quit happily.

HD Kumaraswamy said that he was not going to run away and was ready for the floor test. He said that he was not concerned about the number of MLAs present. He said that the BJP has made baseless allegations against him. He pointed out that it was his Special Investigation team that brought back Masoor Khan, the man behind the IMA scam.

Questioning the rebel MLAs on their need to "run away to Mumbai", he asked "what injustice the government has done to them".

The coalition government in Karnataka was formed on May 23 of 2018. Its 14-month stay in power was marked by several controversies which eventually culminates today.