Congress attacks Karnataka government over confidence motion

Congress today termed as a "fraud on the Constitution" the BJP government in Karnataka winning a vote of confidence by voice vote after the speaker disqualified 16 MLAs hours before the trial of strength.

"It is clearly, completely undemocratic and a fraud on the Constitution. The role of the speaker has been an assault on democracy," party spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said.

"For such an important Constitutional issue as trust vote, if the speaker allows voice vote and does not allow a division...This is nothing but a fraud on democracy and a shameless attempt to subvert the Constitutional process and put in place an illegal government," she said.

AICC general secretary and a senior party leader from the state BK Harirprasad said, "Whatever has happened in Karnataka is shameful. It is totally unconstitutional, unethical and illegal."

He said such incidents never took place in Karnataka's history.

"After it came to power in Karnataka, BJP which claimed to be a party with a difference, has ruined the image of the state and has only brought disrepute to the politics of Karnataka," the former Rajya Sabha MP from the state said.

Chief minister BS Yeddyurappa today "won" a vote of confidence in the Assembly after the speaker disqualified 16 MLAs, including 11 of BJP, hours before the trial of strength.