WHERE’S THE PARTY TONIGHT?
Guv Had Given BSY Till Month-End To Prove Majority, SC Orders Him To Do It Today
Floor Set For 4PM, BJP Goes All Out To Break Cong-JDS Dance
Dhananjay Mahapatra, Manu Aiyappa & Sandeep Moudgal TNN
New Delhi/Bengaluru 19.05.2018
: The Supreme Court on Friday toughened the challenge for Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa to prove his majority on the floor of the House by slashing to 28 hours the 15-day window provided to him by governor Vajubhai Vala.
Instead of going into the legalities of the governor’s decision, the bench of Justices A K
Sikri, S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan decided that asking for an early floor test would be a better option.
The order came despite a plea by Yeddyurappa’s counsel Mukul Rohatgi for a “little more time” — at least until Monday — and that the time given was “too short”. But the bench stuck to its Saturday 4pm deadline for the floor test. To ensure its realisation, the bench ordered that the trial of strength be conducted by the pro tem speaker rather than a regular speaker, electing whom would have cut into the tight timeframe. It compounds Yeddyurappa’s task to manage the numbers and win over at least seven MLAs to add to his 104, to reach the majority number of 111in the House with an effective strength of 221, and redoubled his campaign managers’ efforts in the remaining hours.
Yeddyurappa was told by court not to announce any major policy decisions
The Congress, which had lately been critical of the apex court and even suggested that the institution was being bullied by the government, was jubilant over the development and lavished it with praise for its “historic verdict”.
The SC secured an assurance from Yeddyurappa that he would not announce major policy decisions, including nominating a member of the Anglo-Indian community as an MLA, and ordered Karnataka police to make “adequate and sufficient arrangements” for the security of MLAs. It asked the director general of police to personally supervise the arrangements “so that there is no lapse on this count whatsoever”.
While BJP was reconciled to the prospect of the 15-day window being pruned to a week, having to lure away seven MLAs of the rival combine by 4pm on Saturday in the immediate aftermath of a bitterly contested election could prove to be like suddenly doubling the asking rate for a team batting second in a T20 game.
Yeddyurappa, who will be only the second Karnataka CM after Ramakrishna Hegde to face a trial of strength thrice, remained upbeat. The BJP camp appeared to have recovered from its shock when governor Vajubhai Vala appointed K G Bopaiah the pro tem speaker.
Guv Had Given BSY Till Month-End To Prove Majority, SC Orders Him To Do It Today
Floor Set For 4PM, BJP Goes All Out To Break Cong-JDS Dance
Dhananjay Mahapatra, Manu Aiyappa & Sandeep Moudgal TNN
New Delhi/Bengaluru 19.05.2018
: The Supreme Court on Friday toughened the challenge for Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa to prove his majority on the floor of the House by slashing to 28 hours the 15-day window provided to him by governor Vajubhai Vala.
Instead of going into the legalities of the governor’s decision, the bench of Justices A K
Sikri, S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan decided that asking for an early floor test would be a better option.
The order came despite a plea by Yeddyurappa’s counsel Mukul Rohatgi for a “little more time” — at least until Monday — and that the time given was “too short”. But the bench stuck to its Saturday 4pm deadline for the floor test. To ensure its realisation, the bench ordered that the trial of strength be conducted by the pro tem speaker rather than a regular speaker, electing whom would have cut into the tight timeframe. It compounds Yeddyurappa’s task to manage the numbers and win over at least seven MLAs to add to his 104, to reach the majority number of 111in the House with an effective strength of 221, and redoubled his campaign managers’ efforts in the remaining hours.
Yeddyurappa was told by court not to announce any major policy decisions
The Congress, which had lately been critical of the apex court and even suggested that the institution was being bullied by the government, was jubilant over the development and lavished it with praise for its “historic verdict”.
The SC secured an assurance from Yeddyurappa that he would not announce major policy decisions, including nominating a member of the Anglo-Indian community as an MLA, and ordered Karnataka police to make “adequate and sufficient arrangements” for the security of MLAs. It asked the director general of police to personally supervise the arrangements “so that there is no lapse on this count whatsoever”.
While BJP was reconciled to the prospect of the 15-day window being pruned to a week, having to lure away seven MLAs of the rival combine by 4pm on Saturday in the immediate aftermath of a bitterly contested election could prove to be like suddenly doubling the asking rate for a team batting second in a T20 game.
Yeddyurappa, who will be only the second Karnataka CM after Ramakrishna Hegde to face a trial of strength thrice, remained upbeat. The BJP camp appeared to have recovered from its shock when governor Vajubhai Vala appointed K G Bopaiah the pro tem speaker.