Trouble brews for Karnataka CM Yeddyurappa
B S Yeddyurappa could be heading for a serious turmoil in his state after rebel legislators and governor H R Bhardwaj hustled in Delhi to discuss their strategy against the graft-accused Karnataka Chief Minister.
A fresh bout of troubles struck the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Karnataka government on Friday as the Supreme Court quashed the suspensions of certain MLAs who were laid off by the state Assembly speaker, allowing Yeddyurappa to scrape through a trust vote.
The Supreme Court ruling came after the the Karnataka High Court on Feb 14 upheld the decision of the state Assembly Speaker to disqualify five Independent legislators under the anti-defection law.
The new verdict sent tremors in the B S Yeddyurappa cabinet since it paved the way for the state?s BJP government to be put on the edge of a cliff and perhaps be led to another trust vote for the chief minister, already battling land scam slur and other problems.
The 16 MLAs — five independents and 11 from the BJP — were suspended by Speaker K G Bopaiah, hours before B S Yeddyurappa’s trust vote, which he won by a wafer-thin margin on Oct 11 last year.
State Governor H R Bhardwaj, not satisfied with the process of voice vote method vote of confidence in the absence of 16 “rebel” legislators, had asked Yeddyurappa to seek trust vote within 72 hours and the BJP ruled coalition won it by 106 against 100 votes.
On Saturday, after their suspensions were overturned by the apex court, the MLAs landed in New Delhi to discuss their strategy against the chief minister and engaged in feverish negotiations with the top BJP leadership, media reports said.
The legislators, especially those from the BJP, seemed to send out an image that they were very much ready to be part of of the party but wanted Yeddyurappa to go.
It now apparently comes down to a tough choice for the BJP to either hold on to the state, one of the few precious ones it commands after a disastrous turnout in the state elections whose results were announced on Friday, or side by Yeddyurappa.
Meanwhile, the state?s opposition Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) parties renewed their spate of attacks on the BJP government as they called for the resignation of the Karnataka Chief Minister and Assembly Speaker, parading with the Supreme Court verdict.
?I request the BJP High Command to dismiss Yeddyurappa and remove the Speaker from the post, because particularly, the role of the Speaker was criticised in the Supreme Court judgement…On the basis of yesterday’s Supreme Court judgement, he (the Speaker) has to take moral responsibility and he has to step down,? JD-S leader H D Kumaraswamy said.
Karnataka Congress chief G Parameshwara said, “We have already sent a memorandum a few days back for dismissing this government on so many issues…But now there is another issue which is much, much bigger in the history of Karnataka politics…the Supreme Court judgement. On that pretext, we will definitely demand the removal of this government.?
Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj who shares a publicly bitter relationship with Chief Minister Yeddyurappa met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday and warned of immediate action against the government.
After the meeting, where Bhardwaj apparently discussed the future course of action against Yeddyurappa, he took potshots at the BJP leader, calling the Supreme Court judgement a ?stricture against the Chief Minister and the Speaker?.