In yet another day of hectic developments in Karnataka politics, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday won a vote of confidence in the Assembly whose Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar resigned from the post shortly after that.
76-year-old Yediyurappa, who was sworn in as Chief Minister on Friday after the fall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, sailed through comfortably with a voice vote after the strength of the Assembly was brought down by the Speaker disqualifying 14 MLAs on Sunday.
Moving the trust vote the chief minister promised not to indulge in vindictive politics and said he believes in "forget and forgive".
"I love people who oppose me as well. I want to thank Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and JP Nadda for giving me the opportunity," Yediyurappa said in the Vidhan Soudha today.
Soon after Yediyurappa's trust vote, the Speaker resigned from his post. His resignation came amidst reports that the BJP was planning to move for his removal.
The BJP has been upset with the Speaker that he had not acted on the resignation of the rebel MLAs and instead chose to disqualify them.
Earlier, opposing the confidence motion, senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah fired a fresh salvo at the BJP, alleging that the ruling dispensation cannot provide a stable government in the state.
"We hope you (B S Yediyurappa) will be the chief minister but there is no guarantee for that. You are with the rebels, can you give a stable government? It's impossible! I oppose this confidence motion because the reason is this government is unconstitutional and immoral," he said.
"Unfortunately, Yediyurappa has never been CM with people's mandate. Where's the mandate? You didn't have it in 2008, 2018 or even now. When he took the oath, there were 222 MLAs in House, where did BJP have 112 MLAs for the majority? They had 105 seats. That is not a mandate," the former chief minister remarked.
The chief minister, however, said that administration in Karnataka had come to a standstill under the previous Congress-JD(S) government.
"When Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy were chief ministers, they did not indulge in vindictive politics. Administration has failed and we will set it right. I assure the House that we will not indulge in vindictive politics either. I believe in forget and forgive," he said.
He announced two instalments of Rs 2,000 to beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan scheme by the state government as an additional benefit and appealed to the Opposition to work together.
"There is drought (in the state). I want to address the farmers' issues. I have decided to give 2 instalments of Rs 2000 to beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Kisan scheme from the state's side. I appeal to the opposition that we must work together. I appeal to the House to unmously express confidence in me," Yediyurappa said.
Highlighting the development works done by the 14-month old coalition, Siddaramaiah welcomed Yediyurappa's assurance that he would work for the people.
"We discussed HD Kumaraswamy's confidence motion over the last four days. I too participated in that and I do not wish to speak about it. I could have spoken about circumstances under which Yediyurappa became the Chief Minister. I wish him well and welcome his assurance that he will work for the people," he said.
Yediyurappa was sworn-in as the 25th chief minister of Karnataka on July 26, following the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) government after it lost the trust vote.
Currently, there are 105 BJP members supported by an Independent. Both Congress and JD(S) have 100 members in the 225-member House. The majority mark stands at 104, after 17 MLAs were disqualified by Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar under the anti-defection law.
( With inputs from ANI )