Governor’s Second Chance Might Prove Yeddy’s 'Second Life'
 
Gabriel Vaz
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
 
Bangalore, Oct 12: The "second chance” offered by Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj to the beleaguered Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to prove his majority in the State Legislative Assembly by 11 am on October 14 might turn out be the proverbial "second life” in view of the State High Court’s decision to defer hearing on the writ petitions by the 16 disqualified MLAs till Monday, October 18.
           
The Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court comprising Chief Justice J S Kehar and Justice N Kumar, which took up hearing on the writ petitions filed by the disqualified 11 BJP MLAs and 5 Independents on Monday itself, refused to stay the order of the Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah.
           
Incidentally, the Governor, who had ridiculed Yeddyurappa’s floor test victory by voice vote amid pandemonium and chaotic scenes in the Assembly on Monday without any discussion as a "farce” and had taken the drastic step of submitting a detailed report to the Centre recommending dismissal of the 28-month-old BJP Government for losing its majority in the House and imposition of President’s Rule in State by evening, did a volte-face and offered another chance to the Chief Minister to prove his majority.

The former Chief Minister and State JD(S) President H D Kumaraswamy, in sharp contrast to the statements issued by his party leaders as well as Congress leaders in the morning welcoming the Governor’s offer of second chance, has demanded that the floor test should be postponed until the High Court verdict. He also criticised the decision of the Governor of asking the Chief Minister to prove his majority for the second time within 24 hours after recommending dismissal of the Government and imposition of President’s Rule in the State.

Yeddyurappa rushes back to Bangalore
            
The Chief Minister, who had criticised the Governor in the morning for giving the second chance to prove his majority, changed his stance after hearing the news of the High Court deferring the hearing on the writ petitions by the disqualified MLAs till October 18. Yeddyurappa, who had rushed to Delhi along with all the 105 BJP MLAs for a physical parade before Rashtrapathi Bhavan to demonstrate the party’s strength in the Assembly, decided to cut short his Delhi trip. The Chief Minister and the entire group of BJP MLAs are expected to reach Bangalore tonight.
           
Yeddyurappa has publicly announced from Delhi that he would accept the second chance offered by the Governor and prove his majority in the House again on October 14 as directed. To make things quite clear and leave no unambiguity, the Chief Minister has directed his Principal Secretary I S N Prasad to inform the Governor that the BJP Government has decided to take up the second chance offered by Raj Bhavan and prove the Government’s majority on October 14. He also indicated that the Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah has been requested to summon the Assembly session again.
           
The Yeddyurappa regime’s Special Representative in Delhi and former Union Minister Dhananjaya Kumar, who spoke to DAIJIWORLD from Delhi, said the Government was never shy of proving its majority. "We have always maintained that we have clear majority in the Assembly. Though we have serious reservations against the Governor and are critical of his partisan actions, we will never hesitate to take up the challenge to prove the majority,” he said making it clear the disqualification of the 16 MLAs was a decision taken by the Speaker in exercise of the powers conferred on him under the Constitution.
           
"The Governor has no right to dictate terms to the Speaker or direct the mode and manner of conduct of business in the Assembly as it was purely left to the latter. The Governor has no right to interfere in the functioning of the Speaker or question the quasi judicial functioning in disqualifying the MLAs for anti-party activities under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution,” Dhananjaya Kumar said.
            
In a related development, the ruling party has made it clear that the 16 disqualified MLAs, who have ceased to be members of the House, will not be allowed to attend the Assembly when it meets for the second time for the floor test on Thursday, October 14.
 

Why did Governor reverse stand?
            
The Governor, who has the distinction of being a leading advocate of the Supreme Court besides serving as the Union Law Minister, was obviously taken to task by the Congress-led UPA regime as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who is also the chairperson of the UPA national coordination committee, for placing the Centre in an embarrassing position ahead of the ensuing assembly polls in Bihar and the commencement of parliament session next month.

Taking recourse to an unusual step of holding a news conference at Raj Bhavan, Bhardwaj spelt out his turnaround and came out with dramatic gesture of offering a second chance to Yeddyurappa to prove his majority again.
           
But this time, the Governor had set a caveat: "I am prepared to give you (Yeddyurappa) another opportunity to hold a fresh vote to support your contention by 11 am on October 14 subject to the condition that the confidence vote on majority must be demonstratively and constitutionally proved.”
           
The Governor also made it clear that he had sent a letter to the Chief Minister on his second offer. "The Chief Minister failed to demonstrate his majority in clear and objective terms. Unauthorised persons entered the floor of the House and disrupted the proceedings,” Bhardwaj said indirectly referring to the presence of MLCs like Dr V S Acharya, V Somanna, C H Vijayashankar and G Janardhana Reddy, by virtue of their positions as Ministers, during the trust vote, and the entry of City Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari and a large posse of policemen in full uniform.

"In the circumstances, it is incumbent upon you (Yeddyurappa) to demonstrate clearly and objectively that you have the majority in the house. In case you are willing to do so, I give you a fresh opportunity to do so by October 14 at 11 am," Bhardwaj said in his letter to the chief minister.

The Governor contended that the report on the proceedings furnished to him by the Assembly Speaker does not reflect any figures on how many MLAs voted in favour and against the motion seeking the confidence of the House moved by the Chief Minister.

"There cannot be any voice vote in such a matter. A clear division is required to prove majority," he said defending his decision to recommend dismissal of the Yeddyurappa Government and imposition of President’s Rule in the State after realsing the illegal and irregular manner in which the trust vote was passed as also the series of corruption charges and allegations against the Government.

He also observed that this was not the first time that the Yeddyurappa government was in trouble and pointed that the Reddy brothers had “hijacked” 50 MLAs on an earlier occasion.

"The Chief Minister was in tears... I had sympathy for him. I have fully cooperated with the Chief Minister on all matters,” he said, rejecting Yeddyurappa’s charge that he was not fair to his government.

While Bhardwaj said it was the duty of the Speaker to seek clear division of votes either by raising hands or through chits and also to clear the House of all non-members, Bopaiah contended that nobody had pressed for a division and consequently he had adopted voice vote.
 

Did HC delay help CM?
 
Apparently, the Governor, who had publicly declared that he had the "final authority” and claimed that he had three decades of parliamentary experience besides sufficient legal expertise, had not factored in the likelihood of the High Court not announcing its verdict on the writ petitions challenging the disqualification by the 16 MLAs.

The Division Bench of the High Court concluded its hearing on the writ petitions moved by the 11 disqualified BJP MLAs and reserved its ruling. It took up the hearing of the petitions by the 5 Independents but deferred it till Monday afternoon 2.30 pm, allowing time to them to amend their petitions to modify it. Despite repeated pleas, the Division Bench refused to issue any interim order or stay the disqualification orders passed by the Speaker.

The BJP MLAs, who were disqualified are: Balachandra Jarkiholi, Belur Gopala Krishna, Anand Asnotikar, Dr Sarvabowma Bagali, V Nagaraju, Raje Kage, Y Sampangi, Nanjundaswamy, S K Bellubbi, H S Shankara Lingegowda and Shivanagouda Naik. Former Ministers Venkataramanappa, Shivaraj Tangadagi, Goolihatti Sekhar and M P Narendraswamy and independent MLAs were also disqualified.
 

Another plea before High Court?
 
Meanwhile, the Congress and JD(S) leaders and the disqualified MLAs, who were literally taken aback by the dramatic turn of events, rushed to Raj Bhavan. Unconfirmed sources indicated that the Congress and JD(S) leaders might persuade the disqualified MLAs to move an emergecny special leave petition on Wednesday before the High Court either to stay the disqualification order or allow them to take part in the House and exercise their rights as duly elected MLAs to vote during the confidence vote. It is, however, a moot point whether the High Court will heed their pleas. If the High Court grants any relief to the disqualified MLAs, Yeddyurappa will be in trouble or else quite safe.
 
The net result of the deferment of the hearing by the High Court and refusal to stay the disqualification of the 16 MLAs till Monday, October 18, 2.30 pm and the Governor’s directive to the Chief Minister to conclusively prove his majority in the House by 11 am on October 14 is that the disqualified MLAs cannot enter and participate much less vote in the motion of confidence in the Assembly.

What the above two decisions imply is that the ruling BJP will have a strength of 106, including the Speaker, in the 224 member House, whose strength will be reduced to 108 on account of the disqualification of 16 MLAs. The combined strength of opposition Congress and JD(S) will be 101 with 73 and 28 members respectively along with the vote of Independent member Varthur Praskah or totally 102. The strength of JD(S) includes Channapatna MLA, M C Ashwath, who had reportedly agreed to support Yeddyurappa. Even if the member abstains from the session, it will help the ruling party.
 

Second chance becomes Second Life?

In any case, the ruling party and Yeddyurappa can comfortably face and overcome the trust vote a second time, thereby prove quite its majority quite conclusively. Though it is premature to predict the outcome of the High Court decision on the writ petitions against disqualification of MLAs and quite foolhardy to plan political strategies, it is logical to presume that the Governor could do little after Yeddyurappa proves his majority a second time --- even if the High Court decision were to against the Speaker’s decision.

Whether the disqualified MLAs win or lose, the aggrieved parties can surely be expected to move the Supreme Court and until the matter is conclusively decided one way or the other by the apex court, the Yeddyurappa regime might be safe. Whichever way the High Court decides, it will be difficult for the Governor to alter his decision. More importantly, the Congress-led UPA regime would be hesitant to take any action against Yeddyurappa regime after it proves its majority in the House for the second time.

Thus, the Governor’s magnanimous and even quite generous – or is it too clever by half? – offer to Yeddyurappa to prove his majority for the second time, might actually turn out to be the proverbial second life.

Kar 'Natak' So Far...

• Bangalore: Yeddy accepts Governor’s 'Second Chance'
• Bangalore : Hearing of 16 MLAs Disqualification Plea Adjourned to Oct 18
• Governor Lashes out at BJP Govt, says Trust Vote 'Not Proper'
• CM Asked to Prove Majority Again, Governor Sets Oct 14 as Deadline
• BJP to Parade 105 MLAs Before Rashtrapathi Bhavan on October 12
• High Court Puts off Hearing Against 'Disqualification' to Oct 12
• Governor to Centre: Dismiss Yeddy, Clamp President’s Rule
• Presence of MLCs in Assembly Raises Questions of Impropriety
• Eyes on Governor, Centre after Yeddy Passes Floor Test
• Bangalore: Yet Another Brazen Act: Yeddy Bans Media Coverage
• Yeddy gets 16 MLAs Disqualified to Overcome Floor Test Hurdle
• BJP Crisis: Speaker may Pronounce Order Before Trust Vote
• Will Yeddyurappa Survive? Odds are Not Favourable
• Governor Puts Breaks on Disqualification Petition
• Bangalore: JDS Indulging in Horse Trading, says Eshwarappa
• Bangalore: BJP Crisis Deepens as More Legislators Join Rebels
• Congress, JD-S have Kidnapped State MLAs, Alleges BJP
• Yeddyurappa Government Will Fall, says Kumaraswamy
• K'taka Crisis: Dissident MLAs Given Deadline
• Bangalore: BJP Crisis - Rebels Face Threat of Disqualification
• Bangalore: Deadlock in BJP as Rebels Stay Put in Goa
• Deve Gowda Says Yeddy is 'Misleading' Speaker
• 11 Karnataka Rebel BJP Legislators Get Show-cause Notice
• Parrikar Begins Fresh Round of Talks with Rebel BJP Legislators
• Kumaraswamy Meets Karnataka Rebels in Goa Resort
• Renukacharya & Co Will Return on Friday, Promise to Support Yeddyurappa
• Yeddy Might Survive Trust Vote; Katta May be Asked to Quit
• Bangalore: Yeddy Sacks Asnotikar, Jarkiholi - Bellubbi, Others Return
• 12 Dissident Karnataka BJP Legislators in Mumbai, May Go to Goa
• 'Horse-trading' of MLAs in Full Swing as Yeddy Braces for Floor Test on Oct 11
• Deve Gowda Family's Misdeeds will be Exposed: Yeddyurappa
• Yeddy Regime Plunges into Crisis, Asked to Prove Majority by Oct 12