Congress expels rebel Karnataka MLAs

The Congress party on Tuesday expelled its 14 Karnataka MLAs who had rebelled against the party and kept away from the confidence motion moved by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.

As a result, the 13-month-old Congress-JDS coalition government headed by and Janata Dal Secular (JDS) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy lost the trust vote and fell last week. The BJP has formed the new government in the state led by B.S. Yediyurappa.

The rebel MLAs were Mahesh Kummatalli Pratap Gouda Patil, Shivram Hebbar, S.T. Somashekar, Byrati Basavaraj, B.C. Patil, Anand Singh, Munirathna, K. Sudhakar, M.T.B. Nagaraj, Roshan Baig, Shrimant Patil, Ramesh Jarkiholi, and R. Shankar.

These MLAs have already been disqualified by the then Assembly Speaker K.R. Rameh Kumar.

In a release on Tuesday, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K.C. Venugopal said that acting on the recommendation from the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president, the Congress party has expelled the “ex-MLAs for indulging in anti-party activities”.