Congress seeks disqualification of rebel MLAs

BENGALURU: The Congress on Tuesday decided on legal recourse to save the coalition government in the state while also threatening legislators who have resigned with punishment, after its considerable efforts to cajole rebel MLAs camping in Mumbai to return to the party fold failed to yield results.
Party leaders moved speaker KR Ramesh Kumar’s office, seeking the disqualification of 10 of the rebels under provisions of the anti-defection law and Schedule 10 of the Constitution. They also urged the speaker not to accept the resignations as they were “not given voluntarily” and were “not genuine”.
At a legislature party meeting at Vidhana Soudha, party leaders also passed a resolution to take a hard line against the rebels, while also deciding to resist alleged efforts of the BJP to destabilise the government.
However, eight MLAs, besides those camping in Mumbai, skipped the meeting, setting off speculation there could be more resignations even while CLP leader and former CM Siddaramaiah said all except Anjali Nimbalkar took prior permission to remain absent. Anjali’s name has popped up in the list of MLAs who could defect to the BJP. Shamanur Shivashankarappa, S Ramappa, TD Rajegowda, K Sudhakar, E Tukaram, MTB Nagaraj, Khaniz Fatima and R Roshan Baig were absent.
“The rebels resigned at the behest of the BJP and not voluntarily,” Siddaramaiah told reporters. “So it [resignations] attracts action under provisions of the anti-defection law and Schedule 10 of the Constitution.”
He also warned rebels they would not only face disqualification, but will also be barred from contesting elections for the next six years if charges of indulging in anti-party activities are proven against them. “I don’t know if they [rebels] are aware of the law,” he said. “I still request them to return and withdraw their resignations.”
However, the threat only appeared to harden the stand of the rebels, some of whom insisted that they would not go back on their decision. “I am ready to quit politics, but I will not go back on my decision to resign,” said KR Puram MLA Byrathi Basavaraj from Mumbai. ST Somashekhar and BC Patil also said they are prepared to face any consequence.
Siddaramaiah blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah for the crisis and of introducing chaos and confusion to destabilise a democratically elected government.
“This is the sixth attempt the BJP has made [since it came to power 13 months ago] to topple the government,” Siddaramaiah said. “Just because the BJP is the single largest party, it does not have the right to form the government. The BJP was given an opportunity, but it failed to prove its majority. Only after that we formed the government.”
Alleging crores of rupees were being spent by the BJP to purchase MLAs, Siddaramaiah sought to know from where such huge sums of money were coming from.
Congress MLAs stage dharna
All Congress MLAs also staged a protest near the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Vidhana Soudha against the BJP’s efforts to destabilise the coalition government. Legislators led by Siddaramaiah staged a dharna for an hour, condemning BJP’s alleged machinations to bring down the government through illegal means.