Siddaramaiah initiates debate on no-trust motion against Karnataka govt

Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah on Saturday alleged that the BJP government-led by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has lost the people’s trust to continue as he initiated the debate on the no-confidence motion introduced by him.

“You never had the mandate to rule the state. You were short of enough votes but you came up with Operation Lotus. Mr Yediyurappa is the father of Operation Lotus (a term used by the opposition to describe moves to lure legislators to BJP) in the country,” Siddaramaiah charged as he began the debate on the no-confidence motion.

Alleging that the government failed to provide relief to the flood affected people in 2019, Siddaramaiah said the government had sought about Rs 35,000 crore relief from the Centre whereas it got only Rs 1,662 crore.

According to him, relief and rehabilitation works have not been completed.

On the law and order front, Siddaramaiah claimed the government failed as two people were shot dead in Mangaluru during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act/National Register of Citizens protests.

The former chief minister alleged that government failed to act on time during the recent violence in Bengaluru during which a Congress MLA R Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy’s house, his sister Jayanthi’s house and two police stations were torched.

“Had the police acted on a complaint against Naveen (MLA Murthy’s relative) for his inflammatory post on Facebook, the violence would not have taken place,” Siddaramaiah contended.

The ruling BJP leaders objected to the charge, leading to commotion for a while.

In the 225-member assembly, the ruling BJP has 116 members, Congress 67, JD(S) 33, BSP and nominated 1, independents 2, and Speaker (he has a casting vote).

Four seats — Sira, Basavakalyan, RR Nagar and Maski — are vacant.

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