Bengaluru, Jul 18: Senior Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddywithdrew his resignation late Wednesday evening, bringing brief respite to the beleaguered JD(S)-Congress coalition as it grappled with the fallout of the Supreme Court ruling on the party whip and anti-defection law.
Within hours of the apex court saying the rebel MLAs “ought not” to be compelled to be part of House proceedings, JD(S) issued a whip to its MLAs to be present in the assembly during the trust vote on Thursday.
With every single vote likely to make or mar the government’s prospects, JD(S) said the anti-defection law will be invoked to disqualify any MLA who is absent.
While Congress too insisted the top court had not barred parties from issuing whips, BJP insisted the rebels were free to attend or skip the proceedings. With political tensions rising, the session is likely to get off to a stormy start as chief minister HD Kumaraswamy moves the motion of confidence at 11am on Thursday.
Won’t attend trust vote: Rebel MLAs
Encouraged by the Supreme Court’s verdict in their favour, 15 rebel MLAs from Congress and JD(S), who are still in Mumbai, released a 30-second video on Wednesday saying they will not attend the trust vote on Thursday morning.
JD(S) may prolong the debate
Indications are that JD(S)- Congress will request the speaker to allow all members who want to speak on the motion to ensure the debate spills over to Friday. This will give the coalition partners time to work on the rebels. BJP plans to counter such a move by insisting the debate and voting conclude on the same day.
There was some cheer in the Congress camp as Reddy’s return propped up the party number to 68. Sources said the former minister had spoken to speaker KR Ramesh Kumar over phone and communicated to him his decision to withdraw the resignation. “I will continue in Congress and withdraw my resignation considering that several leaders visited my residence and prevailed upon me to do so,” Reddy said.
Despite, the JD(S) whip notwithstanding, the rebels released a video saying they were firm in their decision not to attend the assembly proceedings. Amid speculation that the JD(S) rebels would be disqualified if they stayed away, the speaker said the issue of party whips and disqualification would be dealt with by the apex court later.
Wednesday’s verdict, however, sent the parties into a tizzy. There was a beeline at Kumar’s office at Vidhana Soudha as Congress and JD(S) leaders arrived to seek his opinion. CM Kumaraswamy, his brother PWD minister HD Revanna, Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah, water resources minister DK Shivakumar, RDPR minister Krishna Byregowda and others urged the speaker to invoke the disqualification rule against the rebel legislators, barring Reddy, should they skip the House proceedings.
“We sought clarity on two grounds... whether the 15 rebels can remain outside the assembly without the permission of the House, and secondly, whether the order suppressed the political parties’ rights to invoke the whip on its MLAs, including the 15 rebels,” said Byregowda, emerging from the meeting. He said the speaker confirmed that the rebels must seek the permission of the House to remain outside. “On the second issue, the speaker has advised political parties to seek legal opinion on whether the whip can be applicable to the rebels as it is between the political party and its MLAs.”
“The SC has nowhere said political parties cannot issue a whip,” former Congress MP Ugrappa said, maintaining that it was the right of political parties to do so. “The order that no MLA is forced to attend the House proceedings is a direction to the speaker and not to political parties. So, rebel MLAs have to obey the whip.”
BJP, on the other hand, said the whip would not apply. “Whatever may be the stand of political parties, the SC has given 15 rebels the freedom to attend or not to attend the House,” BJP leader S Suresh Kumar said.
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