New Delhi, Nov 13: H Vishwanath, Roshan Baig and Ramesh Jarkiholi, who are among the 17 MLAs disqualified by Karnataka speaker, on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court's verdict allowing them to contest the upcoming by-elections and expressed willingness to extend support to BS Yediyurappa-led BJP government in the state.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the decision of the then Karnataka speaker K R Ramesh Kumar to disqualify 17 rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs under the anti-defection law but ruled that they can contest the upcoming by-elections in the state.
"I welcome the decision of the Supreme Court where they have said that the disqualified MLAs can contest the elections. So, now we are preparing to contest the elections. Nothing will happen to the government. Majority of the MLAs will win the election and the government will be safe," Baig told ANI here.
Resonating similar sentiments, Jarkiholi said, "The government in Karnataka is safe. We will move ahead under the leadership of BS Yediyurappa."
Vishwanath said, "I welcome the judgement of the Supreme Court. We should be happy because the apex court has awarded a judgement."
Meanwhile, Independent disqualified MLA R Shankar said, "I was not supposed to be disqualified as I was an Independent. I will meet my lawyer and will take further action after consulting him."
The rebel legislators were disqualified by the then speaker K R Ramesh Kumar in July under the anti-defection law after they tendered their resignation. They were also barred from contesting polls for the duration of the current assembly, which is slated to end in 2023.
The move had led to fall of the Congress-JD (S) coalition government, paving way for BJP to stake claim to form a new government in the state. The disgruntled MLAs then moved the apex court challenging their disqualification. They sought quashing of the order passed by the speaker and prohibition imposed on them to contest elections. The matter was reserved by the court on October 25.
The elections for 15 out of 17 seats are slated to be held on December 5.
After their disqualification, the strength of the 224-member Assembly had come down to 207. This had brought down the majority mark to 104. The BJP, which helms the government in the state, has 106 MLAs in the Assembly.
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
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Dear Voters
My Request with all the voters not to give single vote to this greed’s, all these useless guys - are all bikavu's.
regards
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