New Delhi, Jul 18: Congress on Wednesday claimed victory after the Supreme Court verdict on Karnataka’s rebel MLAs and said the apex court had upheld the powers of the Speaker to decide whether or not to accept the resignations of the MLAs or to consider the disqualification petitions pending against them.
Even as the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka teeters on the brink of collapse, Congress’s Rajya SabhaMP and senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi claimed the SC’s order that MLAs not be compelled to attend House proceedings was a “protective clause for the future”, since no whip had been issued so far.
“The Supreme Court has said the Speaker is not bound by time or date to decide on the status of resignations or disqualification of the rebel MLAs,” Singhvi said.
Setting the record straight on what he alleged was a “misinformation campaign”, Singhvi said, “This is a paragraph (of the verdict) for the future. No MLA has been given any whip yet. The argument was not about this. The court has passed a protective order for the future only to protect the people.”
While the trust vote for the H D Kumaraswamy government is to be held on Thursday, Singhvi indicated that it may be put off till the Speaker decides on the resignations and disqualification. “The stage of the whip will come when voting takes place. The voting is not scheduled until Friday or Monday next week after the discussion is over,” Singhvi said.
Sixteen legislators of the Congress-JD(S) coalition have resigned over the past two weeks, pushing the government below the majority mark.
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