Congress moves SC against Bopaiah's appointment
New Delhi, May 18: The Congress moved the Supreme Court on Friday challenging the appointment of BJP legislator K.G. Bopaiah as Pro-Tem Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly.
Bopaiah will be presiding over the floor test on Saturday to ascertain whether newly-appointed Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa enjoys a majority support in the Assembly or not.
A team of Congress leaders arrived at the Supreme Court on Friday evening to file the petition. Once the plea is accepted by the Registry, they will approach the registrar (vacation) for an early hearing late on Friday.
The Congress has contended that Bopaiah is not the senior-most member of the newly-elected House and as per the Parliamentary convention, it is only the senior-most member in terms of number of times he has been elected to the Assembly who can be a Pro-Tem Speaker.
Earlier in the day, the party said Bopaiah's appointment was made "with the sole intent of manufacturing a majority out of minority for Yeddyurappa".
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BJP using women's quota bill as front to pass Delimitation Bill that will break India: Mamata
Cooch Behar (WB) (PTI): Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday alleged the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was using the proposed amendment to the women's quota law in Parliament as a front for the Delimitation Bill that would "break the country into pieces".
The TMC will fight this Central government's move at every step, she asserted at her party's poll rally here.
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to tweak the women's quota law, along with the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, to implement the proposed amended women's quota law, in the Union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir, were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
According to the Constitution amendment bill, Lok Sabha seats will be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats will also be increased in state and Union territory assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
Opposing the Centre's move, Banerjee alleged that "the BJP brought the Delimitation Bill while keeping the women's reservation bill at the front".
"The BJP is trying to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha to nearly 850 through the Delimitation Bill. It will break the country into pieces," the TMC supremo said.
She also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not speaking the truth about the development of north Bengal at a BJP rally last week.
"The prime minister said nothing was done for the development of north Bengal. But we spent Rs 1.72 lakh crore on the development of the region," Banerjee said and asked Modi to cross-check data before making such remarks.
