Congress expels 14 Karnataka rebel legislators

The Congress on Tuesday expelled the 14 rebel MLAs from Karnataka who were responsible for bringing down the party's coalition government in the state.

New Delhi:The Congress on Tuesday expelled 14 legislators, disqualified by former Karnataka Speaker K.R. Ramesh, for anti-party activities.

In a press communique, the party said the All India Congress Committee (AICC) had approved the proposal from the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee seeking expulsion of these MLAs from the party.

The expelled MLAs are: Pratap Gouda Patil, B.C. Patil, Shivaram Hebbar, S.T. Someshekhar, Byrati Basavraj, Anand Singh, R. Roshan Baig, Muniratna, K. Sudhakar, M.T.B. Nagaraj, Shrimant Patil, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumatahalli and R. Shankar.

A day before the trust vote on the B.S. Yediyurappa government in the Assembly, the Speaker on Sunday disqualified 14 rebel legislators of the Congress and Janata Dal-Secular for defying party whips to attend the House on July 23.

Three rebel Congress legislators -- Jarkiholi, Kumatahalli and R. Shankar -- were disqualified on July 25 for defying the party whip to attend the Assembly and vote in favour of the motion.