Bengaluru (Karnataka): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday threatened to hold a state-wide bandh on May 28, if Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy fails to waive off farmers loans by then.
This was announced by the BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa, following which the party walked out of the state legislative assembly prior to Kumaraswamy’s floor test.
BJP leader R. Ashoka said they will be aggressive on the issue of the farmers’ loan waivers and will take action if the state government does not take action soon.
“We walked out on the issue on farmers’ loan waivers. We will hold state-wide bandh May 28. We will be aggressive now,” Ashoka said.
Responding to this, Congress leader DK Shivakumar said they would not act under pressure and wish of the BJP.
“The BJP cannot waste public money by calling this bandh, if a law and order problem is created it will be because of them. They cannot force and blackmail us. We are a responsible government and cannot act to wishes of the BJP,” Shivakumar said.
Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy comfortably passed the floor test in the Vidhana Soudha (state assembly).
With this, he successfully proved his majority in the state assembly.
The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance together with two independent candidates has 117 MLAs, six more than the majority required to form a government in the state. All the 117 MLAs voted in Kumaraswamy’s favour.
The floor test was considered significant for the Congress-JD(S) alliance after the BJP decided not to go for floor test as it did not have the required number of members to establish its claim to run the government.
Yeddyurappa, who was sworn-in as chief minister last week, opted to resign as the BJP was seven short of the simple majority mark of 111 in the 221-member assembly. (ANI)