It is surprising that the Congress-JD[S] coalition managed to run their government in Karnataka for almost two month after their massive defeat in the Lok Sabha election. I was hoping that the government will collapse in a week or two after the May 23 election result. For there was infighting within the coalition, and BJP was attempting to lure the coalition’s Members of Legislative Assembly[MLAs]. Finally, starting from July 6, 15 coalition MLAs resigned in phases, bringing down its strength in the Assembly. What followed was dragging and misuse of constitutional offices by all political players for their selfish motives.
The speaker is deliberately delaying decision on the resignations. He has not accepted the resignations yet. In such a scenario, those 15 MLAs will get disqualified if they don’t vote in favor of the coalition or remain absent during the trust vote. In that case, they won’t be able to become ministers in an alternative government. Secondly, the speaker is using his extraordinary powers to run the house in favor of the Congress-JD[S] coalition by allowing a three day long debate on the trust vote.
On the other hand, the 15 MLAs reached Supreme Court against the speaker’s inaction on their resignations. The Supreme Court, in its July 17 order, said that the MLAs need not be present in the assembly during the trust vote. Which means, they will not get disqualified even if they remain absent for the vote. The Congress-JD[S] combine hopes that the court will reverse this order, and that is why they are delaying the vote through speaker. They have approached the Supreme Court.
Karnataka Governor is echoing BJP’s stand of having the trust vote at the earliest. The BJP wants it early so that it can form the alternative government. The question is: how can the Governor direct the speaker about house proceedings? The house has taken up the trust vote and they are debating on it. The voting happens after the debate. It is the speaker’s right to decide the duration of a debate in the house.
There is clear disrespect of people’s mandate in all this.
This is an opportunity for the BJP to prove that it adheres to democracy. that it stands for a change, that it is different from the Congress, that it wants to start a new kind of politics in India, and that it respects people’s mandate. The Congress-JD[S] coalition government in all likelihood will collapse on Monday. Instead of immediately forming the alternative government, the BJP should wait. Let the by-elections on those 15 seats whose representatives have resigned, happen. Let the people in these constituencies decide which party members they want as their representatives. After the by-elections, if the numbers go in BJP’s favor then it should form the government. But if the numbers don’t go in its favor, it should play the role of a responsible opposition and wait for its turn. Isn’t that the change the people of India want?
Calling Attention 