JDS-Cong coalition govt falls in Karnataka, gets 99 against 105 votes

Bengaluru: The 14-month-old Janata Dal (Secular)-Indian National Congress government in Karnataka was voted out on Tuesday, losing a confidence motion at the end of a protracted debate.The ruling coalition lost 99-105, after 15 disgruntled MLAs quit their seats, plunging the government into minority.

For six days, the coalition partners tried to delay the inevitable after chief minister H D Kumaraswamy offered to move the Confidence Motion in the state Legislative Assembly.

The fall of the  dispensation followed serious dissidence among its legislators 12 from Congress and three from Janata Dal(S)-who quit their seats two weeks ago and were placed in a hotel in Mumbai ever since.

Congress and JD(S) accused the BJP of unleashing 'Operation Lotus' to lure the ruling party legislators offering money and ministerial berths. The rebels did not come to the Assembly session despite being summoned by the Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar.

The two independents, who were taken in as ministers in the recent cabinet expansion, had stepped down from the government and supported the Bharatiya Janata Party. Dramatic scene was witnessed in the city today in front of a posh apartment where the two independents were supposed to be housed by the BJP.The numbers, without the support of the two Independents, was enough for the BJP to defeat the Kumaraswamy government.(UNI)