BJP tells CM to take floor test

The BJP core committee’s stand on the second trust vote changed immediately after the Karnataka High Court reserved its verdict on a writ petition challenging disqualification of 11 BJP MLAs and adjourned hearing of a plea by five independent legislators till October 18.
Before the High Court move, Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley questioned the motive behind Bhardwaj’s letter to the Chief Minister asking him to prove his majority again in the Assembly. To him, Bhardwaj acted like an agent of the Congress party.

“In his letter, the Governor uses the word farcical...the Governor has completely lost his authority and cannot be the custodian of the Constitution. He should be recalled immediately by the Centre,” Jaitley told reporters after a round of the BJP’s core committee meeting.

Yeddyurappa, who was in Delhi on Tuesday to meet the party top brass, said he had already written to the Governor accepting his direction to hold another trust vote and had requested the Speaker to convene the House on Thursday.

He also said he was sure of his government proving its majority on floor again, though he was surprised at the Governor’s call for the second trust vote.

“I still don’t understand why the Governor asked me to seek trust vote for the second time when we proved the majority in the first trust vote itself,” he said, before leaving for Bangalore in the evening.

“May be this is the first time in the history of our country where the CM is seeking trust vote with in a span of three days,” he added.

Urging Yeddyurappa to take the second trust vote as a challenge, the BJP top brass asked the party MLAs to maintain maximum restraint in the House on October 14.