The wobbly Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by HD Kumaraswamy in Karnataka collapsed yesterday evening after a turbulent 14 months after failing the floor test in the Assembly.

The government got only 99 votes against 105 for the BJP. Twenty MLAs, including two independents, 15 rebels and the lone BSP member, stayed away from the vote on the confidence motion. The BSP MLA was promptly expelled from the party by Mayawati for ignoring her directive to vote for the ruling coalition.

The trust vote was occasioned by the resignation of 13 Congress and three JD(S) MLAs and the withdrawal of support by two independent MLAs over a fortnight. 

The trust vote, pending since Friday, was held on Tuesday evening after a week-long back and forth between the Speaker, the coalition and the BJP — and prodding from Governor Vajubhai Vala. The defeat of the coalition government brought an end to the 18-day drama that started with resignations of two MLAs and soon grew into a flood with 14 more following suit, leaving the government in a minority.

BJP dubbed it a “Game of Karma”. “It’s the victory of people of Karnataka. It’s the end of an era of corrupt & unholy alliance. We promise a stable & able governance to the people of Karnataka,” the state BJP tweeted.

State BJP president and former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa called the defeat of the government a “victory of democracy”. 

“People were fed up with Kumaraswamy government. I want to assure people of Karnataka that a new era of development will start now,” said Yeddyurappa who is set to be the chief minister for the fourth time. 

But while the 76-year-old Yeddyurappa can’t wait to take oath as CM, the BJP leadership is in no hurry. 

After losing the floor test, Kumaraswamy drove to the Raj Bhavan and submitted his resignation to governor Vajubhai R Vala around 8.40pm. Vala asked Kumaraswamy to continue in office till alternative arrangements are made.

The tussle between the ruling coalition and the BJP in the run up to the trust vote had even reached the Supreme Court. The debate on the confidence motion extended over Monday and Tuesday despite Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar’s Monday deadline. Ahead of Tuesday’s session, the Speaker, seeing near empty treasury benches in the assembly, commented: “Should this be the fate of the Speaker or the assembly? You will lose credibility, leave alone strength,” he said.

Last Friday, a trust vote could not be held despite two deadlines from the Governor. The house was adjourned after marathon speeches by Kumaraswamy and other coalition leaders. The BJP accused the government of delaying the trust vote with lengthy speeches in hope of reprieve from the Supreme Court.

Responding to the debate on Tuesday evening, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy — who has already handed his resignation to the Governor — said he was “not particularly worried about the end of this debate” and that he would “happily give up… rather than all this”. “I have acted with decency. The last 14 months has been – ‘will they stay or will they go’ – and I thank my party leaders for staying through it all,” he added.

The Congress slammed the BJP for “unscrupulous political horse trading” and said it was a “moral victory” for itself, promising to hold nationwide protests against the “immoral, blatant and brazen political destabilization”.

The Congress and HD Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal Secular had tied up last May when the counting of votes in the assembly elections indicated a hung verdict with the BJP emerging as the single largest party.

The BJP called their alliance “political opportunism”. It predicted that the government will collapse after the national elections. In May, the party scooped up 26 of the state’s 28 Lok Sabha seats while the alliance got only two. Earlier this month, 16 legislators – 13 from the Congress and three from JDS – resigned and two independent legislators withdrew support to the coalition government.

Both Kumaraswamy and Congress’s Siddaramaiah said the rebels will be punished. 

“I would like to reaffirm that those who have fallen for Operation Kamala will never be inducted back to our party,” Siddaramaiah tweeted. Another tweet read: “15-16 of our MLAs violated the whip by abstaining from the House during trust vote, thereby, it is a clear violation of Schedule 10 (of the Constitution) and attracts disqualification.”

Both Congress and JD(S) have moved disqualification petitions before speaker KR Ramesh Kumar and the process is expected to get on track once Supreme Court decides on the issue. On Tuesday, the apex court said it would wait and watch before deciding on the pleas linked to the trust vote and issue of party whips.

Thirteen of the rebel lawmakers have written to the Speaker asking for more time to meet him over a disqualification notice against them. “You are aware that the Disqualification Rule, 1986, requires a minimum of 7 days period. In spite of the same, the proceedings are being hurried up. In these circumstances, I request you to grant four weeks’ time to appear,” the letter read, according to news agency ANI.

The speaker has so far reserved his decision.