BJP mulls trust motion against K’taka Speaker

Bengaluru, July 27 

A day after it came to power in Karnataka, the BJP is contemplating bringing a no-confidence motion against Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, if he does not voluntarily vacate the post, party sources said on Saturday.

The message has been discreetly conveyed to Kumar to give up the post, which is conventionally held by a member from the ruling party, the sources said, ahead of Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa moving the confidence motion in the Assembly on Monday to prove his majority.

“We will move the no-confidence motion against the Speaker if he himself does not resign,” a senior state BJP leader told PTI requesting anonymity.

“Our first agenda is to win the confidence motion and get the finance Bill passed on Monday. We will wait and see whether the Speaker steps down on his own,” he added. The BJP leader sought to know how there could be a Speaker from the Opposition party.

“Once we win the confidence of the House, we will go ahead with moving no-confidence motion,” he said.

In a sudden turn of events, Yediyurappa staked claim and formed the government on Friday, barely 24 hours after the Speaker disqualified three rebel MLAs while keeping the decision pending on 14 others.

The Speaker had said he would take a decision in a couple of days on the pleas for disqualification of the remaining MLAs.

A raft of resignations by the rebel MLAs had brought down the coalition government when it lost the vote of confidence in the assembly on Tuesday and put the BJP on the saddle. — PTI

‘Won’t back BSY’

• JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda on Saturday ruled out any support to the BJP government headed by Yediyurappa, saying his party would play the role of a "constructive" opposition.
• Gowda made the party position clear a day after a section of JD(S) legislators asked former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy to extend support to the BJP government