The principal Opposition Congress has decided not to move no-confidence motion against the BJP government headed by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar in Karnataka.
Speaking to presspersons after the Governor’s address to joint session of the State legislature here on Monday, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah said technically the government has majority, though, the ground reality was different.
At present, the ruling BJP enjoys a thin majority in the Assembly, wherein the strength has been reduced to 211.
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The BJP has 108 members, including the Speaker and an independent and a nominated member. The Congress has 71 members, Janata Dal (S) – 26 and Independents – 6.
Meanwhile, JD (S) floor leader and former Minister H.D. Revanna said his party would support the no-confidence motion if the Congress moved it in the House.
Speaker K.G. Bopaiah has accepted the resignation of 12 legislators, who are loyal to former Chief MInister and KJP President B.S. Yeddyurappa.
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Elections to the State Legislative Assembly would be scheduled to be held in the months of April-May.
Bundle of lies
Earlier, the Opposition Congress has dubbed Governor H.R. Bhardwaj’s address to joint session of the State legislature as a “bundle of lies and lacking programmatic action.”
Mr. Siddaramaiah said the Bharatiya Janata Party government had only made false promises during the last four and half year of its rule.
The government had used the Governor’s address to repeat all the old schemes announced earlier. There were no details on the performances of the schemes already launched. No steps have been announced to tackle drinking water crisis in drought-hit villages and to overcome shortage of power. The government has implemented only 40 per cent of schemes formulated in the last budget (2012-13), he claimed.
The State has been facing severe shortage of power, especially with villages receiving only two hours of power. The State plunged into darkness due to frequent power cuts in urban and rural areas. There was no substance in the government’s claim that 4593 MW of power was added during the last four years. Why was there no power in villages if the generation was increased, Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
A majority of the government’s schemes remained only on paper. “The Government’s claim on sound fiscal position is totally false and a big lie.” The government’s outstanding debt increased from Rs. 59,000 crore to Rs. 1.20 lakh crore in the last four and half years. There was no money for payments of social security schemes such as old age pension, widow pension, disabled pension etc, the Congress leader alleged.
The JD (S) leader M.C. Nanaiah said the Governor’s address “is nothing but a post-mortem report on the four and half-year rule of the BJP government.”