Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday charged the opposition Congress and JD-S of attempting to destabilise his government. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government under his leadership has created “history of sorts” by winning the trust vote for a second time in four days, he said.
“The destabilisation attempts against the BJP government in Karnataka started immediately after its formation. I hope such attempts will end here and the democratically-elected government is allowed to complete its full term to fulfill the promises made to the people. I seek the cooperation of the opposition parties in this regard,” he told reporters after winning the motion of confidence 106 votes to 100 votes.
As per the Constitution requirement, a government need not seek a floor test within six months after winning it on the floor of the House, he said.
“As advised by the senior leaders of the party in Delhi and Governor H R Bhardwaj, I proved the majority of my government,” he said.
The events that swept the political scene of the state in the past one week during which the opposition tried to topple an elected government have dented the image of the state and the people are hurt by these developments. “I deeply regret what happened in the last one week,” he said.
Yeddyurappa said, henceforth, his government would work only for the development of the state and appealed to the opposition parties to forget the bitterness and join hands with the government in its task of building a vibrant Karnataka.
The chief minister claimed that he knew who was behind the toppling bid and asserted that he would not yield to such attempts.
When asked if he suspected mining lobby, affected by his export ban order, was behind all this, he refused to say it was “mining” but left no one in doubt that he exactly meant that.
The BJP government had banned export of iron ore on July 26 this year after it came under attack for alleged large-scale illegal mining in the state.
Yeddyurappa said it is well known that the lobby attempted to destabilise his government with hundreds of crores of rupees and extended cooperation to opposition to topple it.
The Chief Minister said that in the next few days, he would meet the Prime Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister to seek their continued cooperation for the state’s development.
