Bhartiya Janata Party wins confidence vote in southern state of Karnataka
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to form the government in the southern state of Karnataka after narrowly defeating its arch-rival Congress in a confidence vote in the Karnataka Assembly on Tuesday.
Karnataka, whose Capital is India’s tech hub of Bengaluru, is the only state of India’s five southern states where the Bhartiya Janata Party, has held office before
“The people of the state have expressed confidence in us. We will give them an administration that is trustworthy and visionary,” said J.C. Madhuswamy, a BJP legislator in Karnataka.
Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, the leader of Congress’s ally Janata Dal (Secular), submitted his resignation to state Governor Vajubhai Vala, who accepted it and asked him to carry on in a caretaker capacity until the BJP took over.
More than a dozen legislators from Congress’s coalition quit earlier this month, triggering a majority test in the state assembly. Both sides traded allegations of bribing legislators to secure their support.
Congress said the outcome was a defeat for democracy. “Karnataka has lost due to the conspiracy of anti-constitution, anti-democratic BJP,” it said in a statement.
The BJP has been trying to widen its support base beyond the north and west of India, and Karnataka is seen as a beachhead for advancing into a south long dominated by regional parties.
Congress, which has suffered a leadership crisis ever since Rahul Gandhi resigned as party chief earlier this month, faces further marginalization following the loss of Karnataka.
The BJP won the confidence vote by a margin of six votes in the 225-member Karnataka state assembly, a live telecast of the vote showed.
