Yeddy gets 16 MLAs Disqualified to Overcome Floor Test Hurdle
by Gabriel Vaz
Daijiworld Media Network
BANGALORE, Oct 11: Defying all norms and even the specific direction of Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj to maintain status quo with regard to the composition of the State Assembly as on October 6, when as many as 19 BJP legislators, including ministers and independents, had informed Raj Bhavan in writing about their withdrawal of support to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, the beleaguered Chief Minister has taken recourse to get as many as 16 MLAs comprising 11 from the ruling party and 5 independents disqualified through the Speaker when all other survival attempts failed.
The Speaker K G Bopaiah had issued the 27-page written order disqualifying the MLAs who had decided to vote against the motion of confidence being moved by the Chief Minister in the Assembly as per the direction of the Governor to prove his majority in the floor of the House by 5 pm on October 12.
File Picture
The 11 BJP MLAs had been disqualified under the anti-defection law for anti-party activities. The 5 independents, who had extended unconditional support to the Yeddyurpapa regime after the May 2008 assembly elections and later became associate members of BJP, have also been disqualified for the same reason.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Assembly Secretary S B Patil has issued orders preventing the entry of all the 16 ``disqualified" MLAs from entering Vidhana Soudha. Copies of this order have been pasted at all the entrances of Vidhana Soudha.
With the reduction of the strength of the 224-member House to 208 after the disqualification of the 16 members, the requirement of the ruling party to pass the floor test gets reduced to 105. The ruling BJP, which had a strength of 117 members prior to the eruption of the crisis, gets reduced to 106 after the disqualification of 11 of its members. However, the strength of 106 members of BJP, includes the Speaker, who can cast his vote in the case of a tie.
Against BJP’s strength of 105, excluding the Speaker, the combined strength of the opposition or anti-Yeddyurappa members in the assembly --- assuming the disqualified members are prevented from participating in the House or voting in the trust vote -- would be 102 comprising 73 of Congress, 28 of JD(S) and 1 independent. This, however, does not include M C Ashwath of JD(S), who had reportedly agreed to support Yeddyurappa. In the same way, BJP member Manappa Vajjal has also decided to join the dissident camp. Further, there is every likelihood of cross-voting. These manipulations, however, should help Yeddyurappa to pass the trust vote – at least temporarily.
The ruling BJP contends that the Governor cannot interfere in the functioning of the Assembly much less dictating the manner and method of conducting the deliberations. In fact, the Speaker had shot off a letter to the Governor last night expressing surprise at the Raj Bhavan’s letter to him to ensure that nothing was done to alter the composition of the House as of October 6 or indirectly warning against any moves for disqualification of the MLAs and also the message that any decision that might be taken in an vitiated atmosphere by disqualifying some of the members.
The dissident MLAs, who had hopped from place to place, city to city and State to State from Chennai to Cochin to Mumbai and Pune to Goa to Chennai criss-crossing the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Goa, landed at Bangalore’s posh Eagleton Resort early in the morning. Knowing the move of the dissident MLAs, backed by former chief minister and State JD(S) president H D Kumaraswamy and behind-the-scenes support from Congress party, to vote against the confidence motion, the Chief Minister got the Speaker to issue the disqualification order.
Meanwhile, the aggrieved dissident MLAs held their strategy sessions with Kumaraswamy and other JD(S) leaders on how to overcome the efforts of the ruling BJP to prevent them from voting against the confidence motion.
Among the options reportedly decided by the anti-Yeddyurappa camp, the dissidents would file appropriate petitions at the residence of Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Kehar Singh and try to get a stay on the Speaker’s disqualification order, thereby get legal sanction for their intention to vote against the Yeddyurappa regime in the motion of confidence being moved in the assembly.
Another more obvious move would be to meet the Governor and prevail upon Raj Bhavan to issue appropriate directions to the Speaker to rescind his disqualification order, which is a clear violation of the specific directions issued by the former to maintain the status quo regarding the composition of the House as on October 6 when he directed the Chief Minister to prove his majority in the Assembly.
Whether the Government survives because of its changing the rules of the game by ordering reduction in the number of players in the opposition camp is uncertain. Even if the Yeddyurappa regime manages to pass the floor test during the assembly session, which is sure to witness unprecedented unruly scenes and bedlam, the victory may have to face legal challenges from High Court to Supreme Court. The Governor, who has not lost a single opportunity to needle and embarrass the BJP Government, can also be expected to resort to constitutional measures and even recommend imposition of Delhi Rule for a short while.
Ultimately, however, the entire episode is likely to witness one of the most hotly contested legal challenges with regard to the role of speaker, the governor and the norms for conduct of floor tests as well as the provisions of anti-defection law. But more importantly, the issue would also involve a confrontation between Congress and BJP at the national level as also in the State with the Bellary mining lords and JD(S) leaders Kumaraswamy and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda fighting against each other. State Congress leaders like Siddaramaiah, R V Deshpande, D K Shivakumar and others as well as the dissident MLAs can also be expected to be involved in this political struggle.
But whether Yeddyurappa manages to continue to rule the State – even by disqualifying the MLAs and thereby changing the composition of the House by misusing the office of the Speaker and by wrongly interpreting the provisions of the anti-defection law – is doubtful.
Kar 'Natak' Sofar....