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All eyes on trust vote in Karnataka today
The State has been witnessing dirty politics for over a year and now the Congress-JD(S) govt is facing its toughest test.
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Chennai
The 13-month-old HD Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JD(S) coalition government is on the brink of collapse. Whether the government will survive or not will be known on Thursday (July 18), when the government will face a floor test in the Karnataka Assembly.
The present imbroglio in Karnataka following the resignations of 16 dissident Congress and JD(S) MLAs has put the state in a political limbo.
While the MLAs’ who resigned, pressed the Supreme Court last week seeking a direction to the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly to accept their resignations, a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday refused to intervene at this stage and ruled that the court cannot direct the Speaker to take a decision on the resignations within a time-frame.
The Supreme Court said the Speaker may decide on the resignations within a reasonable time. However, the SC ruled that the MLAs will have the liberty to attend or not to attend the Assembly during the floor test. The court had already said on Tuesday that it would examine if the Speaker’s decision conforms to Constitutional regulations.
Reacting to the ruling, Karnataka Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh said, “I respect the Supreme Court ruling. I assure that whatever decision I take will not be against the spirit of the Constitution. The decision will conform to the Constitutional laws, Supreme Court verdicts of the past and the regulations under the Lok Pal Bill.”
The 15 rebel MLAs welcoming the SC ruling said they have taken a firm decision not to attend Thursday crucial Assembly session. Senior Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy, who had also resigned on Wednesday said, “I am a Congressman. My issues are different. I will meet the Speaker either today or tomorrow (Thursday) morning. I remain a Congressman”.
Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao, however, termed the SC verdict as setting a wrong precedent. It has made the whip redundant and the rebels can now violate the whip. It is a bad judgement encroaching the rights of the Legislature”.
BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa reacting said he has full confidence in the Karnataka Speaker and the verdict is a victory for Constitution and democracy. He said “the verdict is a moral victory for rebel MLAs and that Kumaraswamy should go”.
The government has been troubled ever since it came to office following the split verdict in the 2018 state elections. After the one-week old BS Yeddyurappa government failed to add numbers to cobble up a majority, the Congress and JD(S) moved fast to form the government. BJP had won 105 seats, while the Siddaramaiah-led Congress secured 79 seats and JD(S) won 37 seats. BSP got one seat and independents secured two seats.
The single largest party BJP needed another eight seats to form the government. Fearing horse trading by BJP, Congress backed the JD(S) following which the Kumaraswamy government was sworn-in.
A power struggle ensued from day one to gain a ministerial berth, both from within the Congress and the JD(S). The Congress was cut up with the JD(S) that the Chief Minister had kept important portfolios to himself. Deputy Chief Minister G Parameswaran of Congress openly challenged Kumaraswamy from time-to-time.
Present status
At present, 13 MLAs from Congress, three from JD(S) and two independents have submitted their resignations. With this the strength of the government has come down to 101 from 119, thus losing majority in the 224 member House. Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly KR Ramesh while accepting the resignations of two Independent MLAs, refused to do the same of MLAs belonging to the Congress and the JD(S).
The respective party whips have ordered the MLAs to attend the assembly proceedings, which they have avoided, paving the way for disqualification for not honouring the party whip. The Speaker said he has not taken any decision on resignations before disqualifying them, but this is being seen as a way to buy some time for the dissident MLAs to withdraw the resignations. There are also attempts to pacify the dissident MLAs but so far, it has not been successful.
What the Supreme Court has said
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared on behalf of the Karnataka government had argued on Tuesday, “According to Section 190 of IPC, the Speaker has the first right to hold an enquiry against the legislators who have resigned. They should have met the Speaker first and then moved the court. Hence, the SC should not accept their plea.”
Taking Singhvi’s arguments into consideration, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said, “We cannot order the Speaker. We can spell our views only after seeing whether the Speaker’s decision falls under the Constitution.”
Family politics to the fore
Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s family politics is well known in Karnataka. When Kumaraswamy became the Chief Minister, his father Deve Gowda was a member of parliament. His brother HD Revanna became the Public Works Department Minister in the government. His authoritative behaviour and interference irked Congressmen and they started complaining.
Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha was also an elected member. Deve Gowda’s kin Balakrishna Gowda was made transport minister. Kumaraswamy ensured his son Nikhil Gowda was given a Lok Sabha seat to contest in a constituency hitherto represented by the Congress. Congressmen complained how their constituencies are continuously ignored and no benefits from the government reached the people, leading to frequent fights between ministers, MLAs and leaders of both the parties.
Kumaraswamy’s politics sans principles
In 2004 also, Karnataka witnessed a hung assembly. Deve Gowda, who wanted to promote Kumaraswamy, backed the Congress led by Dharam Singh paving the way for a Dharam Singh government. But after two years, Deve Gowda pulled the rug under Dharam Singh’s feet and the Congress government fell.
Deve Gowda let Kumaraswamy sign a pact with the BJP and both the parties agreed to share the government, with the first part of the term under Kumaraswamy’s Chief Ministership and the second part under Yeddyurappa’s Chief Ministership. But when it was time for transition and Yeddyurappa to take over as chief minister, Kumaraswamy did not honour the agreement.
Following this, President’s rule was imposed. However, in a quick turn of events, Kumaraswamy changed his mind and declared his support to the BJP. Just a week after BS Yeddyurappa took over, the JD(S) suddenly withdrew support and the government collapsed. This paved the way for elections and Yeddyurappa gained sympathy helping BJP to romp home in the 2008 assembly elections.
Going by all these past incidences, it is well expected that the Congress-JD(S) government will not survive for long. In Karnataka politics, the main political rival for Congress has been the JD(S). The JD(S) vote share has come from anti-BJP secular votes, which would have gone to the Congress. Atthe same time, JD(S) has showed in the past that it will not hesitate to shun its secular nature to join the BJP.
Already political critics have pointed out that the Congress- JD(S) combine is an unholy alliance. The gap between these two parties widened after the debacle in the Lok Sabha elections. And now conditions are favourable for the BJP to form the government.
Yeddyurappa’s ‘Operation Kamala’
Hung assembly is nothing new to Karnataka. In 2008, BJP could win only 110 seats. Five independents supported it. Though it was enough to form the government, Yeddyurappa initiated defection of four JD(S) MLAs and three Congress MLAs who resigned and joined the BJP to contest again.
The resignation drama is enacted to escape the anti-defection law. Without resigning had the MLAs supported BJP, they would have lost not only their membership but also would have been banned from contesting for six years. Resignation as an MLA in such circumstances is the short cut.
Mutual complaints
Kumaraswamy has now alleged that there may be horse trading to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore behind resignations of the 18 MLAs.
Countering his charges, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said “The main reason for the resginations by these MLAs is Rahul Gandhi. He was the one who started the resignation drama. Many resigned from the party as they felt that there was no future in the Congress.”
Congress MPs, including Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, raised slogans in Parliament premises demanding that the BJP should stop horse trading and that they are indulging in murder of
democracy.
News Research Department
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