New Delhi:
The high-voltage drama that Karnataka politics has been all of this week continues. The state's Chief Minister and Governor were seen chatting, laughing and sharing stage cozily at a Bangalore function on Wednesday, but make no mistake. Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa is clear that there will be no let-up in pressure.
Mr Yeddyurappa has given Governor HR Bhardwaj an ultimatum to call for an Assembly session. The Chief Minister has said he will start an agitation, traveling to the people in an open jeep if the Governor does not give permission by this evening for an assembly session from June 2.
"By this evening, news should reach me (from Raj Bhavan) that approval has been given for the (legislature) session," Yeddyurappa told reporters here, adding he would launch a state-wide tour in an open jeep addressing road-side rallies to build public opinion from Friday.
His Home Minister R Ashok also said the BJP would protest if there was no decision by this evening.
The CM and the Governor had met on Wednesday, the first formal meeting between the two since Mr Bhardwaj had sent a report to the Centre recommending that President's Rule be imposed in Karnataka. He did this after the Supreme Court ruled against the disqualification of 11 BJP and five Independent MLAs. These MLAs had rebelled against the Yeddyurappa government and had been disqualified just before an important trust vote in Karnataka last year. Mr Yeddyurappa had won that trust vote.
But the rebel BJP MLAs have since changed their minds and now say they are supporting Mr Yeddyurappa.
At the meeting on Wednesday, Mr Bhardwaj told Mr Yeddyurappa that he expected the Centre's decision on his recommendation for imposition of President's Rule by Thursday - which would mean that Mr Yeddyurappa would have to wait a day or two before the Governor would take a decision on calling a session of the state Assembly.
Before that formal meeting, the Governor and the CM came together at a police function in Bangalore, where they smiled, shook hands and chatted. Seated side by side, Mr Yeddyurappa and Mr Bhardwaj leaned over to talk to each other with no outward indication in either's body language that there is friction enough to make for national headlines.
The Governor said Mr Yeddyurappa was a friend, but despite all the bonhomie, Mr Yeddyurappa told NDTV that he still wanted the dismissal of Mr Bhardwaj and that he was confident that the Centre would not act on the Governor's recommendations.
Mr Yeddyurappa had on Tuesday triumphantly paraded his 121 MLAs before the President and on emerging from Rashtrapati Bhawan, BJP president Nitin Gadkari said they had also requested the President to recall Governor Bhardwaj.
Mr Yeddyurappa, who had returned to Bangalore by an early morning flight on Wednesday, is in Delhi again, enroute to the Vaishnodevi Temple in Jammu, he said.
THE SUPREME COURT ORDER
The Karnataka Governor's suggestion over the weekend that President's Rule be imposed in the state was based on the Supreme Court order of last Friday, which said that 16 MLAs were disqualified incorrectly by the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly ahead of a crucial vote of confidence that Mr Yeddyurappa narrowly survived last year.
(Read: Major jolt for Yeddyurappa from Supreme Court)The 16 MLAs include 11 from the BJP and five Independents who had supported the government, but in October 2010 said they would not support the Chief Minister during his trust vote. They were disqualified by the Speaker under anti-defection laws. This weekend, the BJP MLAs made it clear that they were backing their party.
(Read: BJP wins over 11 rebel MLAs)The Supreme Court, in its order of last week, had made some strong observations about the role of the Speaker and the Chief Minister in the process of disqualification of the MLAs.
"Extraneous considerations are writ large on the face of the order of the Speaker and the same has to be set aside. The Speaker, in our view, proceeded in the matter as if he was required to meet the deadline set by the Governor, irrespective of whether, in the process, he was ignoring the constitutional norms set out in the Tenth Schedule and the Disqualification Rules, 1986, and in contravention of the basic principles that go hand in hand with the concept of a fair hearing," the court said.
"There was no compulsion on the Speaker to decide the disqualification application filed by Mr. Yeddyurappa in such a great hurry within the time specified by the Governor to conduct a vote of confidence in the government headed by Mr. Yeddyurappa. It would appear that such a course of action was adopted by the Speaker on October 10, 2010, since the vote of confidence was slated for October 12, 2010. The element of hot haste is also evident in the action of the Speaker. The procedure adopted by the Speaker seems to indicate that he was trying to meet the time schedule set by the Governor for the trial of strength and to ensure that the appellants and other independent MLAs stood disqualified prior to the date on which the floor test was to be held," the court added.