Newly elected K'taka MLAs to take oath on May 15

Bangalore: Three newly-elected BJP MLAs will take oath as members of Karnataka assembly on Sunday, officials said on Saturday.

C P Yogeshwar (Chennapatna), M Narayanaswamy (Bangarpet SC) and S V Ramachandra (Jagalur ST), who won the recent bypolls will be administered oath by Speaker K G Bopaiah.

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has asked the newly- elected members to take oath so that they could participate in the proceedings of the Assembly likely to be convened shortly and also vote on any motion including a motion of confidence if the situation warranted.

Yeddyurappa is taking caution as he apprehend a situation in which the Governor H R Bhardwaj may direct him to face another floor test in the light of the Supreme Court quashing disqualification of 16 MLAs, party members said.

Bhardwaj who is yet to give nod to the government to convene the legislature session, planned from May 16, has indicated that he might ask the Chief Minister to prove his majority.

Yeddyurappa managed to win trust vote during last October twice after Bopaiah disqualified 16 MLAs - 11 from BJP and five independents, which now has been set aside by the apex court.

The Supreme Court rapped the Speaker and also the Chief Minister for ensuring disqualification of 16 MLAs to save the BJP government.

Following the disqualification of 16 MLAs, the effective strength of the 224-member House was reduced to 208. Yeddyurappa won the trust vote by 105 to 100 votes in the second floor test he took on October 14.