Bengaluru: The BJP government in Karnataka headed by B S Yediyurappa has won the trust vote in the Karnataka Assembly on Monday.
Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar announced his resignation soon after Yediyurappa won the confidence motion by a voice vote.
With the BJP comfortably placed in the numbers game after the disqualification of 17 rebel MLAs that reduced the effective strength of the House, the opposition Congress and JDS did not press for division.
The speaker declared that the one-line motion expressing confidence in the Ministry headed by Yediyurappa had been adopted by the House.
On the eve of the trust vote, Kumar had disqualified 11 Congress MLAs and three JDS lawmakers till the end of the current term of the House in 2023, in addition to three earlier, bringing down the majority mark to 105, equivalent of the current strength of 105 of the BJP, which also enjoyed the support of an Independent.
The Congress has 66 members, JD(S) 34, the speaker one (who has a casting vote in case of a tie) and one expelled BSP member who was thrown out of the party for violating its directive to support the H D Kumaraswamy government during the trust vote on July 23.
The speaker's action on Sunday had come as a big relief to the BJP which emerged triumphant as expected.
As was also expected, the speaker announced his resignation after a 14-month long tenure in office, amid reports that the BJP was mulling moving a no-confidence motion against him.
Kumar said as the Speaker, he had worked according to his 'conscience' and in accordance with the Constitution.
Moving the confidence motion, Yediyurappa said he would not indulge in "politics of vengeance" and believed in the "forget and forgive principle."
He said the administrative machinery had collapsed and his priority was to bring it back on track.
Seventeen rebel MLAs (Congress-14 and JDS-3) had skipped the Assembly session during the trust vote proceedings on July 23, bringing down the Kumaraswamy government which lost the confidence motion with 99 members voting in favour and 105 against it.
Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah said the Yediyurappa government was "unconstitutional and immoral" and expressed doubts about its longevity.
JD(S) leader Kumaraswamy took exception to Yediyurappa's charge that the administrative machinery had collapsed and said it was a "baseless" one, that did not behove the chief minister.
The House also passed the Appropriation Bill, seeking a vote on account for three months.
(With inputs from PTI)
