November 17, 2007 09:54 IST
Karnataka's ruling coalition partners � Janata Dal Secular and the Bharatiya Janata Party -- will have some tense moments, as the hearing on a petition seeking disqualification of 40 JDS legislators resumes on Saturday. The hearing comes up two days prior to the BJP seeking a trust vote on the floor of the Karnataka legislative assembly.The petition that seeks disqualification of the legislators, including former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, will resume before the Speaker of the legislative assembly. All eyes will be on the Speaker, as his decision will be crucial to the government.The petition was filed by a few independent legislators in which they sought the disqualification of the JDS legislators after they entered into an alliance with the BJP 21 months back and formed the government without the approval of the party high command. The petition was based on the letter written by JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda to the Governor in which it was sought not to recognize the faction led by his son, Kumaraswamy.No action was taken by the then state Governor, T N Chaturvedi, following which the petition was filed. It will be interesting to see what the Speaker does during the hearing as the matter was being adjourned repeatedly since the past 21 months.On the last date of hearing, the Speaker had issued summons to both Gowda and senior JDS leader M P Prakash. Gowda will have to explain to the Speaker the reason for writing the letter to the Governor. Prakash too will have to explain the circumstances that prevailed at that time as he too had initially opposed the formation of the government with the BJP.The outcome of this petition will be extremely crucial to the survival of the government. If the Speaker were to uphold the petition, it would lead to the disqualification of 40 JDS legislators, thus reducing the BJP-led government to a minority.
Karnataka's ruling coalition partners � Janata Dal Secular and the Bharatiya Janata Party -- will have some tense moments, as the hearing on a petition seeking disqualification of 40 JDS legislators resumes on Saturday. The hearing comes up two days prior to the BJP seeking a trust vote on the floor of the Karnataka legislative assembly.The petition that seeks disqualification of the legislators, including former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, will resume before the Speaker of the legislative assembly. All eyes will be on the Speaker, as his decision will be crucial to the government.The petition was filed by a few independent legislators in which they sought the disqualification of the JDS legislators after they entered into an alliance with the BJP 21 months back and formed the government without the approval of the party high command. The petition was based on the letter written by JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda to the Governor in which it was sought not to recognize the faction led by his son, Kumaraswamy.No action was taken by the then state Governor, T N Chaturvedi, following which the petition was filed. It will be interesting to see what the Speaker does during the hearing as the matter was being adjourned repeatedly since the past 21 months.On the last date of hearing, the Speaker had issued summons to both Gowda and senior JDS leader M P Prakash. Gowda will have to explain to the Speaker the reason for writing the letter to the Governor. Prakash too will have to explain the circumstances that prevailed at that time as he too had initially opposed the formation of the government with the BJP.The outcome of this petition will be extremely crucial to the survival of the government. If the Speaker were to uphold the petition, it would lead to the disqualification of 40 JDS legislators, thus reducing the BJP-led government to a minority.
K.Venugopal
If the Speaker disqualifies the JDS MLAs, it will be a case of Deva Gowda's sins having caught up with him, for he is the one who initiated the action in one of his summersaults of political positioning.
[Rediff News]
