Bengaluru: Making a marathon speech in the state assembly while holding fort for the ruling Congress, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister Krishna Byregowda, who also holds the Law and Parliamentary Affairs portfolio, argued that the trust vote proceedings will not be valid unless the Speaker decides on the resignations of the 15 rebel Congress and JD(S) MLAs.
Participating in the debate on the trust vote in the Legislative Assembly here on Monday, Mr. Byregowda said: “The Supreme Court has not spoken on the issuance of whip by a legislature party, at the same time the top court has given the liberty to rebel MLAs to participate in the ongoing trust vote proceeding saying there can be no compulsion in this regard. The court has not interfered with the constitutional right of the Speaker to accept or reject the resignations of the rebels. There is another dimension to the resignations too-are the rebel MLAs members of this House? These MLAs are liable to disqualification under the tenth schedule of the Constitution if their resignations are rejected by the Speaker", Mr Byregowda said.
The minister also spoke about Operation Lotus launched by the BJP to poach on coalition MLAs and referred to an audio conversation of top BJP leaders with the rebel MLAs. He also read out an audio conversation of BJP leaders with rebel MLAs, B.C. Patil and Shivaram Hebbar and said these proved that the saffron party is involved in destabilizing the coalition government by luring crores of rupees and positions to the rebel MLAs. “Is it ethical for the BJP to offer money and posts to the rebels? The BJP is trying to teach political morality to the CM while asking him to resign, but their immoral act of destabilizing the government and escorting 15 rebel MLAs to Mumbai does not come under the purview of political immorality,” he said.
