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Uncertainty continues over the survival of the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition in Karnataka, as Legislative Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar is yet to take a final call on the resignation of 10 rebel MLAs.
All the 10 rebel MLAs (seven from Congress and three from JD(S)) personally met the Speaker on the Supreme Court’s instructions.
While addressing the reporters after the meeting, the Speaker said: “I need time to examine whether the resignations are genuine.”
“The delay is not my fault because the MLAs did not communicate with me and rushed to the Governor. Is it not the misuse of the Constitutional post? Later, they approached the Supreme Court. My obligation is to people of this State and the Constitution. I am delaying the decision because I love this land and I do not want to act in haste,” explained Ramesh Kumar.
The Speaker further said “I scrutinised resignations based on Rule 202, Karnataka Assembly Rules & Procedures. I will personally hear from three MLAs on Friday. If this is being considered as a delay, should I accept the resignations without giving it a thought? Shouldn’t I follow the Constitution?”
“Only five resignations were in order and the other (eight) sent to me were not in a prescribed format. I wrote back to all the eight MLAs saying that if you want to really go ahead with resignations please resend it to me in prescribed format. After they submit their resignations, it is my duty to check if they voluntarily, genuinely submitted the papers without any pressure. Considering the kind of political developments we are seeing, it is also my duty to enquire into these aspects. Otherwise, I will be failing to do my duty,” Ramesh Kumar added.
Supreme Court
On Thursday, a Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had asked the Karnataka Assembly Speaker to decide on the resignation of the MLAs during the course of the day and intimate the court by Friday.
On hearing the Supreme Court directive, Speaker filed a petition before the Apex Court seeking more time to process the resignation letters.
HDK puts up a brave face
Expressing confidence that the government would survive, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said he was ready to face No-Confidence motion if moved by the opposition BJP.
Both Congress and the JD(S) have issued notices and whip to MLAs to attend the 10-day legislative session commencing on Friday.
Congress’ chief whip, Ganesh Hukkeri, urged all the party’s MLAs to attend session to pass the Finance Bill; failing which those absent will be disqualified under the Anti-Defection Law.
Meanwhile, the JD(S) filed a disqualification petition against the three rebel MLAs — Narayan Gowda, Gopalaiah, and H Vishwanath.
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