Quote:Counsel for the 5 Independents also took the plea that they never left the BJP and they wanted to amend the petition.



The court then adjourned the hearing till Oct 18.

Quote:New Delhi, Oct. 13: Chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa appeared headed for victory in tomorrow’s trial of strength after Karnataka High Court today gave the go-ahead for the floor test and rejected a plea from the disqualified Independents to be allowed to vote.



The order came on a day a BJP delegation led by L.K. Advani met the Prime Minister to demand governor H.R. Bharadwaj’s recall.



The five Independents had also pleaded that their votes be put in a sealed envelope and counted later in case the court stayed their disqualification by Speaker K.G. Bopaiah.

Quote:In the afternoon, Advani, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and M. Venkaiah Naidu called on the Prime Minister to demand Bharadwaj’s recall.



Jaitley told reporters that Bharadwaj had failed to “detach himself from his political past”. “Notwithstanding the ministerial offices he held in the past, he was never perceived to be a respecter of democratic and constitutional institutions,” he said.



Jaitley also questioned the governor’s “volte-face”. “If the recommendation for imposing President’s rule under Article 356 was based on good and cogent grounds, how did he implicitly overrule himself within a day?” he asked.



Jaitley said “there should not have been a second (trust) vote” because the Speaker’s ruling on the first one was “conclusive”. “But to avoid a constitutional confrontation, we agreed to face it.”



Asked what the Prime Minister’s response was, he said: “He heard us, that’s all.”



In Bangalore, Bopaiah told marshals not to allow non-members, “including disqualified MLAs” into the House tomorrow for the sake of “smooth proceedings”, PTI quoted him telling reporters.

Quote:Chinks showed in the Opposition ranks as at least one of the independent MLAs, out of six independents in Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Varthur Prakash, who was identified as being with the Congress and JD(S), has announced his decision to support the Yeddyurappa Government in the trust vote on Thursday.



Varthur Prakash, who was earlier supporting the BJP, had left and supported the Congress and JD(S) during the crisis. In fact, he identified himself with the JD(S) and he is the only independent MLA not disqualified by the Speaker. Varthur Prakash, who surfaced along with Tourism Minister Gali Janardhana Reddy, has extended his support to the BJP.



Talking to media, he said, “I am going to vote for the motion. I will support BJP Chief Minister Yeddyurappa at the time of motion tomorrow. For me, development of my constituency is important.”



The entry of this independent MLA into the BJP fold adds to Yeddyurappa’s comfort level in number game to prove the majority during the second trust vote on Thursday by increasing the BJP’s total strength to 107. [color="#FF0000"]According to sources in the BJP, JD(S) MLA Ashwath is also with them and he is going to abstain from voting. The rumour is ripe that one or two Congress MLAs will also support the BJP at the time of trust vote. With this, the smiles are back in the BJP camp, and looking at the numbers, Yeddyurappa will prove his majority on Thursday.[/color]



The BJP now has a strength of 106 members, including the Speaker, in the 224-member House after Speaker KG Bopaiah disqualified 16 MLAs under the provisions of anti-defection laws. The disqualification of the MLAs had brought down the strength of the 224-member Assembly to 208



The Congress and JD(S) have also issued whip to defeat the motion moved by Yeddyurappa seeking trust vote on Thursday.

Quote:Meanwhile, the Congress and JD(S) camps were livid at both the Centre and the Governor. Several Congress members on Wednesday expressed displeasure over the manner in which the Congress high command has dealt with the situation. In fact, at [color="#FF0000"]Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting which was held thrice in a posh hotel in Bangalore[/color] on Wednesday, leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah even attacked the Governor in allowing the BJP to seek a second trust vote.



Talking to The Pioneer, Siddaramaiah attacked the Governor and called his decision to allow the BJP to seek the trust vote for the second time as “unconstitutional”. He also accepted that many legislators expressed their displeasure in the manner in which the whole episode was handled.



Siddaramaiah said, “The decision of the Governor to allow the BJP to seek the trust vote for the second time in the House is unconstitutional and unprecedented in the independent India’s political history. I don’t know under what pressure he had to take this decision. We had the CLP meeting and many MLAs have expressed their opinions which will be sent to the high command.”



He further said that the BJP Government had failed to prove its majority during Monday’s floor test, and in the normal course, the President’s rule should have followed, which was recommended to by the Governor.



According to a source, even some of the MLAs demanded in the CLP meeting to consider en mass resignation and teach a lesson to the high command.



According to the Congress sources, in normal terms they were expecting a Congress-led Government with Siddaramaiah as the Chief Minister after the fall of the BJP Government in Karnataka.



Meanwhile, JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy also blasted the Governor for his decision. He termed his action as one-sided and favouring the BJP. He went and met the Governor in the evening and demanded that the trust vote should be postponed till the court judgement on the writ petitions pending in the Karnataka High Court.

Quote:October 14, 2010

Dr V S Acharya, senior cabinet minister in the BJP government, told rediff.com, "We are confident of getting more than 107 votes today. I can't reveal who will vote in our favour now. But the government will sail through comfortably."



"Even if the high court permits the five disqualified Independent MLAs to vote after its verdict, the government will still be safe," he added.



If the court permits the 5 Independents to cast their vote after next Monday's verdict, the House strength will go up to 213 and the magic number needed will be 107.

Quote:All MLAs, who will take part in today's trust vote, will reach the Karnataka legislative assembly only at 10.30 am.



The BJP MLAs, who have been camping at the Golden Palms resort near Bengaluru, have just left in four different buses.



Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has already reached the city and is currently at his home office where he is expected to meet his MLAs before heading for the assembly.



The Congress and the JD-S too have left their respective resorts and will reach the assembly after holding meetings separately.



Security around the assembly is tight and MLAs have been told to come together in specially arranged buses and not in their independent vehicles. None of the MLAs will be allowed to enter the house before 10.30 am

Quote:The Congress legislature party meeting, which just concluded, has decided that all its 73 MLAs will vote against the government today and that not a single MLA will boycott the proceedings today.



D K Shivakumar, senior Congress leader, told media persons after the meeting that the party is unanimous in its decision and he is confident that the BJP will lose the trust vote.



He also said that he is sure that the verdict of the high court on October 18 will go in favour of the 5 Independent MLAs and that they will come and vote against the government.



Today's trust vote is just a semi final and the finals is only when the high court gives its verdict, he said.

Quote:All BJP MLAs have just reached the assembly and have taken their respective seats.



The Congress and the JD-S reached a bit late following confusion that some Congress MLAs had gone missing. <img src='http://www.india-forum.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

Quote:

Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition, Siddaramaiah will meet Speaker K G Bopaiah and hand over a letter requesting him to postpone the trust vote, which is scheduled to be held in the next half an hour.



Congress sources told rediff.com that the letter states that the trust vote should not be held since the high court is yet to decide on the fate of the 16 disqualified MLAs.

Quote:The Congress MLAs, who just reached the assembly, headed straight to the meeting hall instead of the floor of the House to hold another party meeting.



Although Congress Chief R V Deshpande had earlier told rediff.com that all MLAs will take part, sources now say that the party is taking a decision on whether to boycott the House or not.



A letter to the Speaker seeking postponement of the trust vote was not considered and the Congress now feels that it should boycott the proceedings. The last-minute meeting comes in the wake of rumours that some of its MLAs have gone missing or may cross vote, sources pointed out.

Quote:The Congress has made up it mind. The party has decided to take part in the trust vote and will demand for a division of the votes.



The party leaders say that there is no problem and that all their MLAs are with them.



Meanwhile the Janata Dal-S MLAs have taken their seats in the House.



Chief Minister Yeddyurappa, who visited four temples before coming for the trust vote, is also on his seat at the moment. The trust vote will begin at 11 am.

Quote:All MLAs have been specifically instructed to sign on the attendance register before entering into the House.

Quote:[size="5"]Yeddyurappa has done it again.[/size]



The Karnataka chief minister has held on to power for a second time.



He secured 106 votes in the House

Quote:11:39 AM



Out of the total 207 MLAs, the Opposition managed to conjure up just 100 votes against the Yeddyurappa government.

Quote:Alleging that the mining lobby could be behind the attempts to destabilise the BJP government in Karnataka, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu today said an investigation would be ordered to bring out the truth.



[color="#FF0000"]"The entire mine owners have ganged up, I am told. Because they are aggrieved by the order of the state government banning the export of iron ore, which is fetching them thousands of crores of rupees. Once it stabilises, we will order an enquiry into the entire episode and find out who are the people who provided this money, who are the people behind this, how the money has changed hands,"[/color] he told reporters.



Asked to elaborate on the proposed probe, he said the Chief Minister would take a decision on the matter.



He asserted that the Yeddyurappa government has taken a courageous decision in banning the export of iron ore.



"The victory of the Yeddyurappa government in the confidence vote is a triumph of democracy and a slap on the face of the Congress-JD (S) combine and their co-conspirator, Governor H R Bhardwaj," Naidu said.



Describing the decision of the Speaker to disqualify the dissident MLAs as "historic", he said the decision would go a long way in "arresting unethical acts of defectors and horse traders".