Bengaluru: Soon after Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar pronounced his ruling on the disqualification of 14 MLAs on Sunday, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party strongly condemned the decision saying it was 'unfair and violative of the law' while the coalition partners hailed the decision as 'a victory for democracy.'
Speaking to reporters here, senior BJP leader Govind Karjol asserted that the Speaker had taken the decision 'yielding to pressure from a party.' Coming down heavily on the verdict, he said it was a 'motivated and defective order.'
Mr Karjol said the rebels would challenge it in the Supreme Court, where they were certain to 'get justice' as the MLAs had quit on their own and their resignations should have been accepted.
On the other hand, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah, in a tweet, hailed the Speaker's decision as 'a victory for democracy.' In another tweet, he said that the order will send a strong message to elected representatives across the country who might fall into the ‘BJP’s trap’.
The Janata Dal (Secular) too, in a tweet, welcomed the Speaker's decision and said, "The Speaker has sent a strong message to those who tried to uproot democracy, by disqualifying legislators who fell for allurements of power and money, disregarding the public mandate and violating the party whip.”
