Bengaluru, Oct. 12: In the first instance of any leader facing a trial of strength in the Legislative Assembly twice in four days, the Chief Minister, Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa, will go through another trust vote on the invitation of the Governor, Mr H.R. Bhardwaj, on Thursday, a move which provided a new turn to the much-complicated political situation in Karnataka.
Mr Bhardwaj offer of a “fresh opportunity”, which came hours after he recommended President’s Rule, was accepted by the Chief Minister who had rushed to New Delhi with 100-odd legislators to demonstrate that he had the requisite numbers to the President, Mrs Pratibha Patil, and to seek the Governor’s recall. “I am going to seek a vote of confidence on the 14th at 11 am. I am confident of winning the vote of confidence on October 14,” Mr Yeddyurappa said in Delhi after prolonged discussions with the party bigwigs, Mr Nitin Gadkari, Mr L.K. Advani, Ms Sushma Swaraj and Mr Arun Jaitley.
The Governor’s invitation came on a day when a two-member Bench of the Karnataka High Court put off its verdict on petitions filed by 16 rebel MLAs against Speaker K.G. Bopaiah’s decision to disqualify them from membership of the Legislative Assembly. His invitation also prompted the Union cabinet to drop its earlier move to discuss the Governor’s recommendation on imposition of President’s rule during its meeting on Tuesday.
On Thursday, only 208 of the 224 MLAs would be allowed into the Assembly, leaving the BJP to muster strength of 105 legislators to win the motion of confidence.