In a controversial move, BJP leader KG Bopaiah was appointed the pro-tem speaker, who has famously been castigated for favouring Yeddyurappa and helping the BJP government survive in 2010.
In a controversial move, BJP leader KG Bopaiah was appointed the pro-tem speaker, who has famously been castigated for favouring Yeddyurappa and helping the BJP government survive in 2010.
Bopaiah was the Karnataka Assembly speaker between 2009 and 2013 and was the pro-tem speaker in 2008. A pro-tem speaker was appointed by the Governor of the state for a limited period of time until the Legislative Assembly elects its speaker.
As per standard practice, the Governor elects the senior-most member.
Congress leader RV Deshpande is the senior-most member of the house and has won elections eight out of nine times. The BJP’s Umesh Vishwanath Katti, who won seven out of eight elections since 1985. Both JD(S) and Congress have cried foul.
Congress leader and SC lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the party may approach the SC challenging the appointment of Bopaiah as pro-tem speaker.
A well-known ally of Yeddyurappa, in October 2010, during outrage about the illegal mining scam, several MLAs from BJP had objected to the government under Yeddyurappa’s leadership.
Bopaiah, in a controversial move, had disqualified 11 rebel BJP MLAs and 5 independents which helped the BJP government survive. His move had earned the ire of SC and had quashed his decision.
The SC had said that it didn’t meet the tests of natural justice and fair play.
A bench had said: “There was no compulsion on the Speaker to decide the Disqualification Application filed by Mr Yeddyurappa in such a great hurry within the time specified by the Governor to the Speaker to conduct a Vote of Confidence in the Government headed by Mr Yeddyurappa. It would appear that such a course of action was adopted by the Speaker on October 10, 2010, since the Vote of Confidence on the Floor of the House was slated for October 12, 2010. The element of hot haste is also evident in the action of the Speaker in this regard as well. The procedure adopted by the Speaker seems to indicate that he was trying to meet the time schedule set by the Governor for the trial of strength in the Assembly and to ensure that the Appellants and the other independent MLAs stood disqualified prior to the date on which the Floor Test was to be held.”
The BJP MLAs who had been disqualified included Balachandra Jarkiholi, Belur Gopala Krishna, Anand Asnotikar, Dr Sarvabowma Bagali, V Nagaraju, Raje Kage, Y Sampangi, Nanjundaswamy, S K Bellubbi, H S Shankara Lingegowda and Shivanagouda Naik. Former ministers Venkataramanappa, Shivaraj Tangadagi, Goolihatti Sekhar and M P Narendraswamy and independent MLAs have also been disqualified.
With this action, Bopaiah had brought down the strength in the 224-member Assembly to 208. The ruling party strength has been reduced to 106 from 117 and the opposition Congress and JDS have a combined strength of 101 (Congress 73 and JDS 28).
Following is the chronology of the Karnataka political crisis in which the Supreme Court on Friday ordered a floor test to be conducted at 4 pm on Saturday;
* May 12: Elections held in Karnataka.
* May 15: Election Commission announces results. BJP emerges as the single largest party with 104 members; Cong with 78 and JD(S) with 37 MLAs stitch an alliance.
* Both BJP and Cong-JD(S) combine stake claim to form the government.
* May 16: Karnataka Governor invites BJP to form govt and asks B S Yeddyurappa to take oath as Chief Minister the next day.
* Congress moves Supreme Court late evening against Governor's invitation to BJP.
* May 16-17: SC opens its doors at midnight for an urgent hearing.
* May 17: Hearing begins at 2.11 am and concludes at 5.28 am. SC refuses to stay oath-taking ceremony of Yeddyurappa.
* Yeddyurappa sworn in as CM at 9 am.
* May 18: SC orders floor test at 4 pm on May 19.
With inputs from PTI
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