Majority or No Majority? BJP, Cong Fight it Out in Karnataka House

Video Editor: Sandeep Suman
Video Producer: Hera Khan

A day before the budget session began in the Karnataka Assembly, talking to reporters, BJP’s state President BS Yeddyurappa announced that his party had no intentions of moving a no-confidence motion. He dismissed rumours of the Bharatiya Janata Party trying to bring down the JD(S)-Congress coalition government and said his party would perform the duties of the Opposition.

During the budget session on Wednesday, 6 February, however, the BJP only kept half of the promise. The party didn’t move a no-confidence motion but protested in the well of the Assembly, arguing the government doesn’t have a majority.

Governor Vajubhai Vala was forced to cut short his address amid protests by the Opposition. In the statements that followed, BJP leaders insisted that the government should be dissolved.

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On Wednesday morning, BJP leaders had come armed with a list of 11 Congress MLAs, who they claimed were not present at the session, to support their argument of the government lacking majority in the Assembly. The list was subsequently proven to be wrong.

But the senior BJP leaders continued to ask for the dissolution of the government. B Sriramalu said: “We will continue protest inside Assembly. This is a minority government. We will meet the Governor soon and give him a memorandum to dissolve the government. On the no-confidence motion, decision will be taken by the party soon.”

However, by evening, Yeddyurappa had toned down the party’s stand. “There is no question of us moving a no-confidence motion or meeting the governor. This government will fall by itself and as a responsible Opposition with 104 MLAs, we will work towards that,” he said.

Four Congress MLAs Missing Despite Whip

Although the BJP’s attempt to project the coalition as a minority government didn’t hold, the Congress camp couldn’t breathe easy either. Four rebel MLAs – Ramesh Jarkiholi, Umesh Jadhav, Mahesh Kumathahalli, and B Nagendra – failed to turn up despite the Congress issuing a whip on Tuesday asking them to mandatorily be present throughout the session.

Apart from them, JN Ganesh, who is absconding after allegedly assaulting his colleague Anand Singh last month, was not present during the session. Another MLA, BC Patil, too gave the session a miss.

Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah while talking about the absentees, said: “Nobody is missing, no MLA is missing.”

A senior Congress leader said action would be taken against the MLAs only if they failed to turn up when the finance bill came up for vote and they believe that everyone will be present in the coming days.

With the budget, including the controversial farmer loan waiver, coming up, the next nine days of the Assembly session are expected to the turbulent. While the missing MLAs are a concern for the Congress, the BJP is expected to relentlessly push to bring down the government.