Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah dares BJP to move no confidence motion against government

Soon after the Karnataka Assembly was adjourned till Friday after a protest by BJP MLAs, former state chief minister Siddaramaiah said what is preventing them from moving a no-confidence motion if they feel that the Congress-JDS alliance does not have majority to run the government. During the uproar, the BJP MLAs claimed that the state government is a minority government and it does not have the required numbers. With the opposition unrelenting, the Assembly was adjourned till 11 am tomorrow.

"Let them move a no-confidence motion. What's preventing them? We have called a legislature party meeting and they will all (4 dissenting Congress MLAs) return tomorrow. The budget will be presented tomorrow. The government has the majority," said Congress leader Siddaramaiah, who had earlier issued a whip to party legislators to be present in the Assembly during the budget session.

Meanwhile, BJP's BS Yeddyurappa said, "They (state government) have no majority and they have no moral right to stay in the government. We will continue our protest tomorrow." The budget session of Karnataka Assembly commenced on Wednesday.

This comes a month after Siddaramaiah served notices to the four legislators who did not turn up at a Congress legislature party meeting in Bengaluru. Talking to the media at that time, Siddaramaiah said, "The situation is not like it is being portrayed in the media. Notice has been served to all four MLAs (Ramesh Jarakiholi, Mahesh Kamatihalli, B Nagendra and Umesh Jadhav). There is no problem to the government.”

He also said three of the MLAs had responded to the notice with the exception of Umesh Jadhav, the MLA from Chincholi who has not replied yet. The Congress, which shares power with the JD-S, has 80 MLAs in the 224-member Assembly, including the Speaker. Accordingly, 79 MLAs were expected to attend the CLP meeting held under the supervision of central leaders K C Venugopal and Mallikarjun Kharge.

(With inputs from agencies.)