Karnataka crisis: NDA to meet PM, asks BSY to parade supporting MLAS

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Taking on Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj for recommending President's Rule, NDA today decided to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to demand his dismissal and asked Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to parade all his supporting MLAs in front of the President.

"The NDA strongly condemns the action of Governor of Karnataka in sending a report to the Central government. The governor's conduct is partisan. It defies all constitutional norms and principles. There is absolutely no doubt that the Yeddyurappa government enjoys an overwhelming majority in the Assembly," senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley told reporters.

He maintained that as a result of the Supreme Court judgement, the 11 suspended MLAs have been held to be members of the BJP and were bound by its whip. The NDA decided to meet the Prime Minister to raise this issue and demand recall of Governor Bhardwaj.

"We intend to raise two specific issues with the Prime Minister. Firstly, this report is unconstitutional and obviously must be rejected by the Central government. And secondly, the governor of Karnataka repeatedly is indulging in unconstitutionality. And so, for defying the Constitution he should be recalled as governor," Jaitley said.

The NDA leadership has also asked Yeddyurappa to bring all his MLAs to the capital and parade them in front of President Pratibha Patil to prove that he has the numbers.

"We shall take all the MLAs supporting the government to the President and demonstrate our strength in front of Rashtrapati Bhawan since a floor test is no longer required," Jaitley said.

The 'urgent meeting' of the NDA leaders was held at the residence of their Working President L.K. Advani to discuss the issue arising out of Bhardwaj's report which is said to have recommended President's Rule in Karnataka.

Jaitley maintained that these 11 suspended MLAs have taken back the letter they wrote on October 6, 2010 withdrawing support to the Yeddyurappa government.

"The MLAs have themselves said they support the government," he added.

The NDA maintained that 121 MLAs support the Yeddyurappa-led BJP government in Karnataka while the opposition has only 97 in the 225-member Assembly. BJP is also miffed at Bhardwaj for not heeding to the chief minister's advise to call a special session of the Assembly today.

"The logical course would have been to have a floor test. As long as a government is in majority the governor is bound by the Constitution to act as per its advice. Bhardawj has acted unconstitutionally in not going by the advise of the council of ministers," Jaitley said.

Governor Bhardwaj has not made public the 'special report' he says he has sent to central government on the Karnataka developments following the Supreme Court restoring the membership of 16 rebel lawmakers May 13.

Of the 16 legislators, 11 are from BJP and five are independents.

The rebellion in October last year had reduced Yeddyurappa ministry to a minority in the 225-member assembly and Bhardwaj had ordered the chief minister to seek trust vote.

The 16 rebels were disqualified ahead of the October 11 trust vote which helped Yeddyurappa win it amid chaos in the assembly.

Bhardwaj ordered another trust vote which Yeddyurappa won Oct 14 with 106 votes in favour and 100 against.

Of the 11 BJP rebels who won back their membership, 10 again expressed their support to Yeddyurappa Sunday while the 11th refused to do so.

The 10 waited outside Raj Bhavan late on Sunday to hand over their individual support letters but Bhardwaj did not meet them.

He, however, met a group of ministers after which BJP spokesperson and former central minister V. Dhananjaya Kumar announced that Bhardwaj had 'accepted' the support letters, indicating Yeddyurappa had survived the crisis.

However, the jubilation in the BJP camp was short-lived as the ruling party apprehended that Bhardwaj had quietly sought dismissal of the Yeddyurappa government and imposition of direct central rule, keeping the assembly in suspension.

It was Dhananjaya Kumar who told the media that Bhardwaj was possibly seeking dismissal of the Yeddyurappa government, within an hour of claiming that the governor had 'accepted' the support letters.

Following the apex court restoring the membership of the 16 rebels, Bhardwaj, an advocate and a former central law minister, seems to have gone by the situation that existed after the 16 withdrew support to Yeddyurappa and before their disqualification.

But BJP's contention is that Bhardwaj should go by the numbers the party has now and not on the basis of the situation that would have existed if the 16 rebels had not been disqualified.

The BJP says that with 10 of the 11 party rebels again extending support to Yeddyurappa, the party has 120 members, including the speaker, in the 225-strong house that has one nominated member.

The party also has the support of one independent legislator.

It will now be a case of 'over to legal experts' - to argue and advise President Patil for and against Bhardwaj's action, in case he has sought dismissal of Yeddyurappa government.

Politically, however, the reported move of Bhardwaj would be a boon for the beleaguered Yeddyurappa.

The BJP, including the increasing number of dissidents in the party against him, will now have to rally behind Yeddyurappa in spite of charges of corruption and illegal land deals hurled at him.