BSY wins by 6 votes,also ropes in ‘paralysed’ MLA

It was the support of an Independent MLA,Varthur Prakash,that proved crucial for the government. Till Wednesday afternoon in the camp of the opposition Congress-JD(S) combine,he was weaned over to the BJP side by the Reddy brothers of Bellary.

If Prakash switched sides,JD(S) MLA M C Aswath went missing,off-setting the absence on the BJP side of one of its MLAs,Vanappa Manjal. He moved over to a BJP rebel camp in the run-up to the trust vote.

The presence of wheelchair-bound BJP MLA Eshanna Gulgannavar,who suffered a paralytic stroke a couple of months ago,also helped the Yeddyurappa government. As he landed at the Assembly in an ambulance,the Opposition objected to his participation in the trust vote saying his brain faculties were affected. But the Speaker read out a medical document certifying that Gulgannavar had “made significant recovery” and was “fully conscious”,allowing the MLA to vote. During the division of votes on the basis of a head count,Gulgannavar raised his hands feebly to indicate an “aye” in favour of the BJP government.

All 73 MLAs of the Congress turned up and voted against the Government,while Aswath was the sole name missing from the JD(S)’s 28.

Calling his win historic,Yeddyurappa said: “There is no such precedence in the history of our country where a government has sought a second trust vote in such a short span of time.” His fortune seeing massive swings over the past few days,including a recommendation for President’s Rule,the Chief Minister added: “Senior leaders of my party in Delhi had advised me against resorting to conflict with the constitutional authority.”

However,Opposition and Congress leader Siddaramaiah sought to impress that the trust vote was “only the semi-finals” and that the finals would be held after the High Court decides the fate of five Independent MLAs and 11 BJP MLAs disqualified by the Speaker from participating in the trust vote.

On Thursday morning,Siddaramaiah in fact asked Speaker K G Bopaiah to put off the trust vote till the High Court decision,but was turned down. The court is to hear the matter on October 18.

After the trust vote,Siddaramaiah,accompanied by KPCC President R V Deshpande,called on Bhardwaj. JD(S) state unit president H D Kumaraswamy and his party MP N Cheluvaraya Swamy also joined them,sources said.

Despite the success in the trust vote,the BJP government remains in a fragile position on account of the narrow gap of six MLAs between it and the increasingly unified opposition. Before the current crisis,the BJP had the support of 122 MLAs compared to the Opposition’s 102. The small margin now leaves the BJP vulnerable in case of rebellions like those seen over the past two years.

BJP sources said that,in such a situation,the party would not be averse to going easy on the five disqualified Independent MLAs in return for their support,in the event of them winning their court battle.