Congress expels 14 rebel MLAs from Karnataka after losing power in the state

The Congress on Tuesday expelled the 14 rebel MLAs from Karnataka who were responsible for bringing down the party's coalition government in the state. All the MLAs, who resigned from the state legislature, had abstained from voting that led to the defeat of the Congress-JD(S) government in the trust vote. The action by the party comes days after these MLAs were disqualified from the state legislature.

The then Karnataka Assembly speaker K R Ramesh Kumar disqualified 11 Congress legislators - Pratap Gowda Patil, B C Patil, Shivram Hebbar, S T Somashekar, Byrati Basavaraj, Anand Singh, Roshan Baig, Munirathna, K Sudhakar and MTB Nagaraj and Shrimant Patil - on Sunday. Three other rebel MLAs - Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumatalli and Shankar - were disqualified on Thursday.

The Congress-JDS coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy crumbled under the weight of a rebellion by a big chunk of its lawmakers, 20 of whom were absent for the voting that led to the defeat of its trust vote. The AICC has approved the proposal received from PCC President, Karnataka regarding the expulsion of the MLAs, a party statement said, giving the names of all the 14 MLAs.

The New BJP govt in Karnataka

Amid loud cheers and claps, BJP Karnataka chief BS Yediyurappa (earlier spelt as Yeddyurappa) on Friday evening took oath as the new Chief Minister of the state, days after the Congress-JD(S) government fell and resignation by Kumarswamy. BS Yediyurappa took as the CM of Karnataka for the fourth time at Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru on July 26, hours after staking claim to form the government during a meeting with Governor Vajubhai Vala at his residence.

READ: BJP Govt In Karnataka Cancels Tipu Jayanti Celebrations After Assuming Power

First decision of the BJP govt

Taking its first decision after assuming power in the state of Karnataka, the BJP government under BS Yeddyuruppa has cancelled the Tipu Jayanti celebrated on the occasion of birthday of Tipu Sultan on November 10 every year. Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa led Karnataka government's Kannada & Culture Department have taken the decision in the cabinet meeting held on Monday to not celebrate Tipu Jayanti.