Bengaluru: Giving little away on when he would pronounce his verdict on the disqualification of the seven rebel JD(S) MLAs, who had cross- voted during the last Rajya Sabha elections, Speaker K B Koliward reserved his orders on the case on Monday and told reporters, “I may pronounce it by evening, tomorrow or any other day.”
Mr Koliwad, who gave a hearing to the MLAs earlier in the day, curtly added that he was like a High Court judge who could not be questioned on when he would pronounce his judgement.
“I have heard both parties and reserved my judgment. The JD(S) can approach the High Court if it wants to as every citizen has a right to do so. But I am also like a High Court judge and no one can ask me when I will pronounce my judgment,” he asserted, contending there was no connection between the coming elections to the Rajya Sabha and the last RS poll.
“That was different and this is different,'' he insisted.
Rebel JD(S) MLAs who appeared before the Speaker were N Cheluvarayaswamy, B Z Zameer Ahamed and Akhanda Srinivas Murthy. The JD(S) was represented by MLAs, H C Balakrishna and B B Ningaiah.
Mr Ningaiah claimed that the seven MLAs had informed senior JD(S) leader, H D Revanna that they were voting for the Congress against the party whip. “They were elected from our party and are now hobnobbing with Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi. The seven should be disqualified under the anti-defection law,” he demanded. Mr Rajgopal, the advocate representing the rebel legislators, argued they were bound by the party whip only during the Assembly session and not the Rajya Sabha elections. “Besides, the anti-defection law that applies to them should also apply to Mahalakshmi Layout MLA, Gopalaiah, who went back to the JD(S) and Congress MLA, S S Nadahalli who joined it,” he argued, accusing the JD(S) of being on a witch-hunt.
