BANGALORE: Amidst a noisy walkout by the Congress and a boycott by the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa Thursday won a trust vote in the assembly, his third in nine months.The Bharatiya Janata Party's first chief minister in the state comfortably sailed through with 119 votes in his favour after 71 Congress members and five Independents trooped out of the 225-member house protesting the rejection of their demand for an immediate discussion on whether speaker K.G. Bopaiah should continue in his post.The 26-member JD-S is boycotting the 10-day session that began Thursday demanding Bopaiah's resignation following the Supreme Court's "strictures" against him over the way he disqualified 16 legislators, 11 of the BJP and five Independents, last October after they rebelled against Yeddyurappa.The apex court restored the membership of all the 16 on May 13, holding that the speaker's action was against the principles of natural justice.The 11 BJP members, whose rebellion reduced the Yeddyurappa ministry to a minority, necessitating two trust votes in four days in October, Thursday voted for the one-line confidence motion moved by the chief minister, who completed three years in office May 30.However, the five Independents joined the Congress in walking out of the house.One Independent supporting the ruling party was not present due to personal reasons, BJP chief whip in the assembly D.N. Jeevaraj told IANS."The confidence motion, moved by the chief minister on the floor of the 225-member house (including one nominated) has been voted in favour by 119 votes against none," speaker Bhopaiah declared after a headcount.Yeddyurappa justified seeking the trust vote even though no one had asked for it after the apex court restored the membership of the 16 legislators.Based on the apex court verdict, Governor H. R. Bhardwaj had May 15 recommended the dismissal of the Yeddyurappa ministry on the ground that the chief minister and the speaker had "colluded to destroy the character and composition of the assembly (last October)".The central government May 22 rejected Bhardwaj's recommendation but sent an "advisory" to Yeddyurappa to ensure that he runs the government without violating constitutional norms.The chief minister told the house that he was seeking its trust again to "put an end to the opposition's attempt to create confusion in the minds of the people and to send a message to the people that my government has a majority and is stable and to seek cooperation of all for the development of the state in the remaining two years of my term"."I moved the confidence motion to demonstrate that we have a comfortable majority in the assembly as even the 11 legislators whose membership was restored by the Supreme Court recently have extended unconditional support to my government," an elated Yeddyurappa told reporters after the vote.With the return of the 11 rebels to the party fold, the BJP has 120 members, including the speaker. The Congress 71 and the JD-S 26.One assembly seat is vacant following the resignation of JD-S member Karadi Sangana after he abstained from second trust vote October 14, 2010.
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