K'taka: Cong hold legislative party meeting ahead of floor test

The Congress on Monday held its legislative party meeting in Vidhana Soudha, ahead of the trust vote by the BJP government.

Several party MLAs including Siddaramaiah, state chief Dinesh Gundu Rao, KJ George, Priyank Kharge, MB Patil, Eshwar Khandre were present in the meeting at that went on for over half an hour.

The meeting comes a day after Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar disqualified 14 rebel MLAs from Congress and JD(S) under the anti-defection law after the Congress-JD(S) government collapsed following its loss in the trust vote.

This is in addition to the three dissident legislators he had disqualified on July 25.

Attacking BJP for criticising the Speaker's order, Dinesh Rao said before the meeting, "It is a historic order. I congratulate the Speaker. Such kind of orders are required to save democracy. What surprises me is why is the BJP attacking the Speaker's order? Instead of praising him, they are denigrating him which is shameful."

BS Yediyurappa, who took office last week, will table the confidence motion in the Assembly to prove his government's majority.

Ahead of the vote of confidence, the city's police commissioner Alok Kumar on Saturday issued a prohibitory order to impose Section 144 within a two-kilometre radius of Vidhana Soudha from 6 am on July 29 to midnight of July 30.