Yeddyurappa quits without taking floor-test
Bengaluru, May 19: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa resigned on Saturday before facing a crucial trust vote in the Karnataka Assembly with numbers stacked against the BJP in the newly elected House, bringing an end to a political thriller that began after May 12 elections threw up a hung verdict.
In an emotional speech in the Assembly, Yeddyurappa said the BJP didn't get the numbers needed to prove majority in the House.
"I will lose nothing if I lose power, my life is for the people," he said.
In his 15-minute speech, the 75-year-old BJP leader said there was no way he could have served the people of Karnataka as the Congress was not even allowing its MLAs to speak to their family members.
"If only people would have given us 113 seats instead of 104, we would have made this state a paradise. But I will fight for the state till my last breath. We will get 28 out of 28 seats in Lok Sabha and I will win 150 Assembly seats for Narendra Modi (in the next Assembly elections)," Yeddyurappa said.
Asserting that the mandate showed that the state's people have rejected the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), he said: "People have voted against the Congress' misgovernance. I have faced many 'agni pareeksha' (trial by fire) in the past and this trust vote is just another one."
He then he would resign as the Chief Minister of Karnataka and after the speech, drove to the Raj Bhavan to submit his resignation to Governor Vajubhai Vala.
The resignation comes two days after he took oath as the 23rd Chief Minister of the state.
The May 12 election across the state in 222 constituencies of the 225-member assembly, including one nominated, threw up a hung House, with no party securing majority. Polls in two constituencies were deferred.
Of the 222 seats, the BJP won 104, the Congress 78, the Janata Dal-Secular, 37 and one each was bagged by the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party and an Independent.
As JD-S leader H.D. Kumaraswamy won from both Channapatna and Ramanagara segments, the party's effective strength in the House was 36.
As the single largest party, the BJP was short of crossing the halfway mark.
Yeddyurappa required the 111 halfway mark to win the motion or one more than the half of the members present at the time of the floor test was conducted in the House with an effective strength of 221.
Though the Governor had directed Yeddyurappa to seek a vote of confidence on the floor of the House within 15 days from the date of assumption of office as the Chief Minister (May 17), a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court ordered the floor test on Saturday, rejecting his plea for a week's time to prove his majority.
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ED gets MHA sanction to prosecute Arvind Kejriwal in excise policy case
New Delhi (PTI): The Union Home Ministry has granted sanction to the Enforcement Directorate to prosecute former Delhi chief minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy linked money laundering case, officials said.
The federal agency has filed a chargesheet against the 56-year-old politician before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here last year after arresting him in March.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recently granted the required sanction to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for prosecuting Kejriwal under the anti-money laundering law in the Delhi excise policy case, officials said.
The development comes ahead of the Delhi Assembly on February 5.
Kejriwal has been made made an accused in his personal capacity as well as in the capacity of being the national convenor of his political party AAP.
The former chief minister was called the "kingpin and key conspirator" of the Delhi excise "scam" by the ED.
It was alleged that he acted in collusion with Delhi government minister, the AAP leaders and others.
The ED had earlier claimed that AAP, being a political party, is defined as an association or a body of individual citizens of India under the Representation of the People Act and hence it can be categorised as a "company" as contemplated under Section 70 of the PMLA.
As Kejriwal was "in-charge of and responsible" for the said company i.e. AAP during the time of offence, he and his party "shall be deemed guilty" of offences mentioned under the anti-money laundering law and liable to be prosecuted and punished, it had said.
The excise case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities. Subsequently, the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
Taking cognisance of a CBI FIR lodged on August 17, 2022, the ED filed its money laundering case on August 22, 2022 to probe the alleged irregularities.
