Sure about Yeddyurappa's resignation before floor test: Congress

Karnataka Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar on Saturday expressed confidence that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would fail the floor test in the state assembly and chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa would have to resign as chief minister.

"I am sure he will resign before the trust vote," Shivakumar, the former state cabinet minister, said. Talking about the missing Congress MLAs, Shivakumar informed that Pratap Gowda Patil has reached the state assembly and will vote in favour of the party after swearing-in.

"Our leader Pratap Gowda Patil has reached the assembly. He will take the oath as an MLA then he will vote for the Congress. He will not betray the party," he said.
Earlier in the day, the two missing Karnataka Congress MLAs were located at a Bengaluru hotel with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA G. Somasekhar Reddy, according to sources. The two MLAs - Anand Singh and Pratap Gowda Patil - did not appear in the state assembly for oath-taking ceremony.

The floor test is slated to take place today at 4 pm in Karnataka's Vidhana Soudha.
Both the Congress in alliance with the JD(S) and the BJP have claimed to have the simple majority in the house that is 111 for the now effectively 221-member assembly.
Earlier, the Karnataka assembly was of 224 members, but it reduced by three seats as polling for the two seats did not take place on May 12 and one member has been elected from two seats.

On Friday, Vala appointed Bopaiah as pro-tem speaker ahead of floor test in the state assembly, breaking the convention of appointing the senior-most legislator.
Yesterday, while hearing a petition of the Congress-JD(S) alliance, the Supreme Court reduced the time given by the Governor to the BJP to prove simple majority in the house and asked the party to hold the trust vote on Saturday at 4 pm.

The decision was taken after the top court heard the arguments for and against the petition filed by the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) following Governor Vala's invitation to the BJP to form the government in the state.

The BJP is the single-largest party in the state assembly with 104 MLAs, however, they are still short of the simple majority mark of 111 by seven MLAs whereas the Congress alliance has 117 MLAs, including two Independent legislators.

(ANI)