Bengaluru/Srinagar: Bahujan Samaj Party national president Mayawati on Tuesday expelled lone party MLA N Mahesh in Karnataka for "violating" the party decision to vote in favour of the H D Kumaraswamy government that lost the trust vote in the assembly.
"By violating the party high command order to vote in favour of the Kumaraswamy government in Karnataka, BSP legislator N Mahesh was absent during the trust vote today, which is indiscipline and the party has considered it seriously," the BSPsupremo said in a tweet in Hindi.
"Mahesh has been expelled from the party with immediate effect," she added.
Mayawati on Sunday had directed Mahesh to vote in favour of the Kumaraswamy government, after he had said that he would skip the trust vote in the absence of any clear instructions from the high command.
BSP had contested the May 2018 assembly polls in a tie-up with JD(S), which in a post-election understanding joined hands with Congress to form the government following a fractured verdict.
Mahesh, the MLA from Kollegala, who was part of the Kumaraswamy cabinet as the primary and secondary education minister had in October 2018 quit his post citing personal reasons, but had said he would continue to support the ruling coalition.
'Black day'
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti Tuesday called the Kumaraswamy-led coalition government losing the confidence vote in Karnataka assembly "a black day for democracy".
"After all the paid for lavish trips to influence Karnataka lawmakers in Mumbai, what can one make of the HD Kumaraswamy led Cong-JD(S) govt collapse? It's a black day for democracy when a country that prides in being the world's largest democracy watches an elected govt crumble (sic)," Mehbooba tweeted, after the Congress-JD(S) coalition lost the trust vote.
