Bengaluru: Hours after Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar pronounced his ruling disqualifying 14 MLAs, one of the rebels and former JD(S) state president A.H. Vishwanath on Sunday said that they would seek justice in the Supreme Court as the Speaker's decision goes against the law.
Speaking to reporters from Pune, Mr Vishwanath said, “Just because a whip has been served on them, the Speaker cannot force legislators to come to the House.” Another disqualified rebel legislator from Maski, Pratapgouda Patil asked his voters in a video message not to panic and said they were confident of emerging victorious in the Supreme Court.
“Dear voters and my well wishers, the Speaker has ordered my disqualification from the assembly, there is no need to panic. We are challenging this in the Supreme Court. I am confident we will be victorious in the court,” Mr Patil said in the video clip.
Speaking to a local news channel, another disqualified MLA, Munirathna of RR Nagar constituency, said they were aware that they would be disqualified as Congress leaders had threatened them about it. “Our party leaders had said we will disqualify if you if you go out,” he said, adding that they would challenge the action legally.
Alleging that many Congress leaders wanted the coalition government in the state to come to an end but did not act on it, Munirathna alleged that leaders within his party did not even cooperate with the JD(S) to run the government smoothly. “Congress leaders are playing a game now, to show that they were loyal to JD(S). We will expose them before the people in the coming days,” he warned.
Meanwhile rebel MLA Shivaram Hebbar, alleged in a Facebook post that the Speaker's decision to disqualify the rebel lawmakers was done in a “partisan” manner under pressure, adding the matter would soon reach the Supreme Court. “I will soon reveal to you the reasons for my decisions and will take further steps after consulting you,” he said in the post addressed to voters and his supporters.
