Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj on Wednesday asked Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to prove majority on the floor of the legislature by October 12, after 19 members of the legislative assembly submitted a joint letter to him withdrawing their support to the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in south India.
Of the 19 legislators, 14 belong to the BJP and five are independents who had extended support to form the government after the elections to the 224-member state legislative assembly in May 2008.
“Taking into consideration the withdrawal of support by 19 legislators, including seven ministers, the governor has requested the chief minister to prove that his government has a majority support in the legislative assembly through a confidence motion on or before October 12 by 5 pm,” a communiqué from the Raj Bhavan said.
In the 224-member assembly, the ruling BJP has 117 members, Congress 73 members and Janata Dal (S) 28 members. There are six independents, of which four were ministers until this morning.
On a day of fast-changing political developments, Yeddyurappa recommended to the governor to drop four independent ministers for withdrawing support to his government. The four ministers are Agriculture Marketing and Small-scale Industries Minister Shivaraj S Tangadagi, Textile and Sericulture Minister Venkataramanappa, Social Welfare Minister P M Narendra Swamy and Youth Services and Prisons Minister D Sudhakar.
Hours after the revolt, Yeddurappa had a meeting with Bharadwaj and told him he was ready to face the trial of strength on October 11, one day ahead of the deadline set by the Governor for the 29-month-old government.
“I have recommended to the governor to drop the four independent ministers for expressing their lack of confidence in me and roping in a section of our party legislators to revolt against my leadership,” Yeddyurappa told reporters after an emergency Cabinet meeting at the state secretariat.
He said six or seven more senior ministers had offered to resign to make way for the fresh faces to be included into the Cabinet.
Among the 19 MLAs who withdrew support to the government, the three BJP ministers were M P Renukacharya (excise), Anand Asnotikar (fisheries) and Balachandra Jarkiholi (municipalities & local bodies).
The decision to sack the four ministers was taken at an emergency Cabinet meeting here within minutes of their submitting a joint letter to the governor saying they were withdrawing support to the government as they lost confidence in the chief minister.
Of the five independent legislators, Youth Services and Sports Minister Goolihatti Shekar was dropped on September 22, along with two ruling party ministers, Aravind Limbavali and Shivanagouda Naik.
The chief minister also advised the 14 party legislators who signed the joint letter to rethink their decision and withdraw it to avoid facing disciplinary action, including expulsion from the party.
“I have decided to call on the governor this evening to discuss the political situation in the state,” Yeddyurappa said.
He accused the Congress of continuing its “habit” of entering into an “immoral relationship” with JD(S) to topple a democratically-elected government.
“We are fully confident that the BJP government will prove its majority according to the mandate given by the people whenever such an occasion arises on the floor of the House,” he said.
The chief minister also alleged that the opposition parties had given Rs 20 crore to Rs 30 crore to each BJP legislator to shift loyalty.
Yeddyurappa on Wednesday warned rebel MLAs that he would seek their disqualification from Assembly if they “failed” to take back the letter submitted to the governor by this evening.
