Siddaramaiah meets Congress MLAs in Hyderabad before crucial trust vote on Saturday

HYDERABAD: Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah is in Hyderabad on Friday to meet Congress MLAs ahead of the crucial trust vote that is to be held on Saturday. To avoid poaching by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress has taken a busload of MLAs to Hyderabad. The MLAs who reached Hyderabad on Friday will have to be brought back to Bengaluru for the floor test that has been ordered by the Supreme Court.

The apex court on Friday ordered BJP's BS Yeddyurappa to prove his majority on the floor of the House. He was on Thursday administered the oath of Chief Minister of Karnataka and was given 15 days to prove his majority. However, the SC told the government to prove its majority in the floor test at 4 pm on Saturday. 

Visuals of Siddaramaiah meeting the Congress MLAs at Hotel Taj Krishna in #Hyderabad. pic.twitter.com/7bGu4jCR9R — ANI (@ANI) May 18, 2018

The SC also said that the Protem Speaker will be overseeing the floor test. Soon after, the Governor named BJP MLA KG Bopaiah as the Protem Speaker. Congress has cried foul over the decision because as per the convention, a Protem Speaker is the seniormost member of the House. "Governor Vajubhai Vala has once again launched an encounter on the Constitution by appointing KG Bopaiah as protem Speaker instead of the senior most MLA," Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said.

Bopaiah had also served as the Protem Speaker in 2008 when BJP had to prove its majority in the House. A Protem Speaker's role is to administer oath to new MLAs and to conduct the election of the full-time speaker.

After Yeddyurappa was sworn-in as the CM, the Congress and the JDS approached the SC claiming that the decision of the Governor to invite Siddaramaiah to form government "unconstitutional". Siddaramaiah had said: "The Governor asking the BJP which has won only 104 seats to form the government shows that he has colluded with the party and its leaders."