The Karnataka legislative assembly has not embellished itself with glory while ensuring a government that has a majority in the house. Despite short of the halfway mark of 111, with only 104 seats, the Governor Vajubhai Vala invited Yeddyurappa to form the government in May 2018. The Governor strangely allowed 15 days to Yeddy to prove his majority in the house, which the opposition protested would promote defections and horse-trading. The Supreme Court ordered a prompt validation of the strength on the floor.
Yeddyurappa meekly resigned on 19 May 2018, within 48 hours of his appointment as the CM and even before the floor test, as he saw a few ‘missing’ Congress MLAs entering the house. They would have to obey the whip and vote for their party. Congress sealed an alliance with Kumaraswamy’s JD(S) after a protracted drama, and a government with a razor-thin majority took office.
The countrywide results of the Lok Sabha elections had an impact on Karnataka, and the BJP’s efforts in breaking a few MLAs away from the ruling alliance bore fruit soon. The rebels 12 from Congress and three from JD(S) were whisked away to Mumbai, even as the speaker, a Congressman, disqualified them. On being challenged, the Supreme Court ordered a status quo on the disqualifications.
The Governor, a BJP appointee, concluded that the government had lost its majority in the house and demanded a floor test, setting two deadlines, which the speaker gave both a miss. Eventually, the floor test was held with the rebels abstaining and the strength of the house going down and BJP scoring 105 as against the government alliance 99. A lone BSP MLA defied his party’s supremo Mayawati and abstained from the voting.
The status of the disqualification of the rebel MLAs is hanging in the balance. The whip shall not apply to the rebels, stated the Supreme Court. The 76-year-old Yeddyurappa is all set to lead the government yet again, for the 4th time.
While corruption is widely prevalent in all segments of Indian society, there can be nothing more blatant, when it comes to trading in people’s representatives. 50, or 100 crores are typical whispers, for a defecting legislator, which could go even higher in case of critical imbalance with very few numbers. The greed of high returns entices a few to forego their then prevailing political affiliations with utter disregard to the voters, who had elected these characters because of their parties.
It will be prudent and statesmanlike, if BJP’s Yeddyurappa forsakes power and calls for a dissolution of the assembly, to secure a more significant and stable majority to run the government. BJP talking of morality in politics, often forgets the spirit of fairness, when it comes to dislodging governments run by opponents.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
