Ahead of the trust vote, BS Yediyurappa - who is becoming Chief Minister for the fourth time - said he was "given the chance" to be back in this seat "for a special reason". "If you think that we took a decision that will affect the people in a bad way, you can reach out to us," he added. The 76-year-old had started the day with prayers at a temple in Bengaluru.

"Sometimes we have had to take some harsh decision, we are small people. We should try and not disrespect the chair that we sit on... People come and go, chief Ministers come and go, be good and do good," Speaker KR Ramesh said before he resigned.

"All that has happened with the rebels, with power - all this will go down in history... The rebels have been brought to the streets. They had special flight last time, (this time) I hear that they are getting normal flights," HD Kumaraswamy said.

Mr Yediyurappa's one-line motion -- that said the House expresses confidence in the ministry headed by him - was passed with a voice vote. He said the administrative machinery had collapsed and his priority was to bring it back on track.

Yesterday, Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar disqualified 11 rebel lawmakers of the Congress and three from HD Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal Secular. The move brought down the strength of the House to 208, and the majority mark to 105 - a number within the BJP's reach.

Mr Yediyurappa later said he was confident of proving majority in the house. "On Monday, I will prove my majority 100%," he told reporters in Bengaluru.

All the lawmakers have been disqualified from the assembly till the end of its term, which calls for by-elections in all 16 constituencies. The disqualified lawmakers said they would challenge the Speaker's decision in the Supreme Court today.

Five of rebels, along with an Independent lawmaker, returned to Bengaluru from Mumbai this morning. Independent Nagesh said he would vote for Mr Yediyurappa.

The first test of strength took place last week after 13 lawmakers of the Congress and three from the JD(S) resigned and two Independent lawmakers who were supporting the government switched sides earlier this month. The coalition could scrape up only 99 votes against the BJP's 105.