In a counter offensive after 13 MLAs resigned on Saturday dealing a blow to the 13-month-old government, a delegation of Congress leaders met Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar and submitted the petition seeking, under the anti-defection law, disqualification of the rebel legislators in line with the decision taken at a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party on Tuesday.
Failure to deliver on governance, corruption allegations, preoccupation with Lok Sabha and gram panchayat polls and factionalism have weakened Siddaramaiah's government in Karnataka. This may well hand the BJP a chance to make a comeback in the state, says Raghu Krishnan.
'Why are the people who stood with the Congress through thick and thin, why are they leaving?'
The ruling coalition had held out the threat of using the Whip against the wayward MLAs, citing the disqualification provision under the anti-defection law.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday began a stock-taking exercise following the party's debacle in assembly polls in Haryana and Maharashtra even as a clamour for "course correction" grew within its ranks in the wake of the dip in electoral fortunes.
Reaching out to present and former employees of the defence PSU at an interaction with them, Gandhi said, work done by HAL for the country was tremendous and the country owed debt to it for "protecting us" and creating a scientific vision.
The speaker said he would take a decision on the remaining 14 cases in a "couple of days."
Elections in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will see the BJP and Congress in direct contest.
Jnanpith awardee Girish Karnad and Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Prathap Simha have allegedly received death threats on social media as the controversy rages in Karnataka over the birth anniversary celebrations of 18th century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan.
Slogans of 'Rahul ji, we are with you' and 'Please do not resign' rang through the air.
The speaker told Kumaraswamy that "this (SIT) should not lead to a witch-hunt. The probe should be only to establish the truth."
The court struck down the portion of the Speaker's order by which the legislators were disqualified till the end of the 15th Karnataka assembly.
The Congress, in its application termed the governor's action as a "brazen unconstitutional" act to appoint "a junior MLA as the pro tem speaker.
As the House resumed its sitting an hour late, the Speaker made it clear, "The debate should start now. Everybody is watching us. Please don't make me a scapegoat. Let us reach our goal," stressing that the process should reach finality on Monday.
Second-line AIADMK leaders and cadres alike say that by starting the talks first with the BJP and committing the party to an alliance without discussing seat-sharing, the leadership might have commenced the coalition discourse at the wrong end. According to them, even 20 seats for the BJP may be too many, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
While the DMK fears that the Congress with its poor strike rate will pull it down in the 2021 state elections, like it did five years ago, the ruling AIADMK is worried that the BJP may ultimately do a Bihar on it, relegating it to second place in Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
