More trouble for BJP government in Karnataka

With the Supreme Court reversing the action of the Karnataka Speaker who disqualified 16 MLAs of which 11 were from Bharatiya Janata Party, the B S Yeddyurappa government finds itself in fresh trouble.

With the decision being reversed, the magic number required in the 226-member house is 113. After the Speaker disqualified the 16 MLAs the magic number was 104 and the BJP then had 106 members in the house

With the SC order, the 11 members of the BJP will have to return to the party. Their future course of action is unknown. Also it is unlikely that the five independents, who had initially extended their support to the BJP, will continue to do so.

If the 11 BJP MLAs, who were disqualified, decide to stick with the BJP then the party would have 117 members, which is four more than the majority.

What also helps the Yeddyurappa government is the fact that the BJP have won all the three bypoll seats, whose results were declared on Friday, wresting two from the Congress and one from the Janata Dal-Secular.

The issue which faces Yeddyurappa now is a leadership change being masterminded by state BJP president L S Ishwarappa.

The BJP state party has decided not to react to the apex court's decision and will wait for the governor to direct it to prove its majority in the house. In that case, it can issue a whip asking the 11 'disqualified' MLAs to vote for the government.