Rebel MLAs can't be compelled to take part in Assembly proceedings: SC
Fate of govt in balance on eve of trust vote
New Delhi/Bengaluru, Jul 17: The survival of the 14-month-old Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka hangs precariously on the eve of the trust vote with the Supreme Court Wednesday holding that the 15 rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs cannot be compelled to participate in the proceedings of the ongoing Assembly session.
As the court order virtually sounded the death knell for Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in the battle for numbers on the floor of the House, a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi in its order at the same time gave Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar the freedom to decide on the resignation of the 15 MLAs within such time-frame as considered appropriate by him.
Locked in an intense face-off with rebel MLAs whose resignation he has refused to accept that would have led to the collapse of the government after being reduced to a minority, Speaker Kumar welcomed the court decision and said he would conduct himself responsibly in accordance with the principles of the Constitution.
Hailing the decision, the rebel MLAs camping in Mumbai said there was no question of going back on their resignations from the Assembly or attending the session while Karnataka BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa said Kumaraswamy will have to resign Thursday when he faces the confidence vote in the Assembly since he has no majority.
Expressing reservations on the order, the Congress said it nullifed the whip and provided "blanket protection" to MLAs who have betrayed public mandate, setting a "terrible judicial precedent".
The court order on pleas by rebel MLAs for a direction to the Speaker to take a decision on their resignations comes a day before the Congress-JD(S) government faces a floor test which will end the suspense over the numbers game triggered by a raft of resignations by lawmakers of the ruling coalition.
While 16 MLAs 13 from the Congress and three from JD(S) have resigned, two independent MLAs S Shankar and H Nagesh have withdrawn their support to the coalition government.
The ruling coalition's strength in the House is 117 Congress 78, JD(S) 37, BSP 1, and nominated 1, besides the Speaker.
With the support of the two independents, the opposition BJP has 107 MLAs in the 225-member House, including the nominated MLA and Speaker.
If the resignations of the 16 MLAs are accepted or if they are not present in the House, the ruling coalition's tally will be reduced to 101.
According to official sources, a nominated member also has the right to vote.
The apex court bench, also comprising justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, said the Speaker's discretion in deciding on the MLAs' resignations should not be fettered by the court's directions or observations and he should be left free to decide the issue.
The apex court also said the Speaker's decision be placed before it.
"We also make it clear that until further orders, the 15 members of the Assembly ought not to be compelled to participate in the proceedings of the ongoing session of the House and an option should be given to them that they can take part in the proceedings or opt to remain out of the same. We order accordingly," the bench said in its three-page order.
It also noted that the imperative necessity at this stage was to maintain the constitutional balance and the conflicting and competing rights canvassed before it.
The bench further said, "In these circumstances, the competing claims have to be balanced by an appropriate interim order, which according to us, should be to permit the speaker of the House to decide on the request for resignations by the 15 members of the House within such time-frame as the speaker may consider appropriate."
The bench noted in its order that the issue before it was whether the resignations submitted by the MLAs prior to the petitions for their disqualification under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution should be accorded priority in the decision-making process or whether both sets of proceedings should be taken up simultaneously or the disqualification proceedings should have precedence over the requests for resignation.
"Constitutional principles should not receive an exhaustive enumeration by the court unless such an exercise is inevitable and unavoidable to resolve the issues that may have arisen in any judicial proceeding," the bench said.
It further said, "In the present case, having regard to the stage at which the above issues are poised in the light of the facts and circumstances surrounding the same, we are of the view that the questions should receive an answer only at a later stage of the proceedings."
"With utmost humility I welcome and respect the Supreme Court decision," said Speaker Kumar.
"The Supreme Court has put extra burden on me, I will conduct myself responsibly in accordance with constitutional principle," he told reporters in Kolar, his home town.
In a video released to the media, rebel Congress MLA B C Patil said, "We are happy with the decision of the Honourable Supreme Court, we honour it."
Flanked by 11 other Congress-JD(S) MLAs who have quit, he said, "we all are together and whatever decision we have taken.. at any cost no question of going back (on resignations). We stand by our decision. No question of going to assembly."
Yeddyruppa, a former chief minister, told reporters in Bengaluru that the court decision is a victory of the Constitution and democracy. "It is a moral victory for rebel MLAs".
But Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala made known the party's disappointment.
"SC's order nullifying the whip & by extension, operation of Constitution's Xth Schedule to punish MLAs betraying the public mandate, sets a terrible judicial precedent!" he said in a series of tweets.
"Blanket protection to MLAs, who are driven not by ideology but by far baser concerns, is unheard-of," he said.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the rebel MLAs, told reporters that any whip issued by the ruling parties will now not apply to them.
But Congress' troubleshooter and minister D K Shivakumar told reporters that the party can issue a whip to ensure the presence of all the party MLAs in the House and take necessary action against them for any violation.
He accused some BJP leaders of trying to misguide that the whip is not valid.
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Malian defence minister killed in attack that saw jihadis and rebels seize towns, military bases
Dakar (AP): Malian Minister of Defence Gen. Sadio Camara was killed in an attack as jihadi and rebel forces seized towns and military bases across the country, according to a military officer and two other sources on Sunday.
There was no immediate comment from the Malian government.
“Unfortunately, the Ministry of Defence, Gen. Sadio Camara, has been killed during the attack which targeted his house yesterday,” said a military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not have permission to speak to the media.
Two other people, a civil society leader and a security member, confirmed the information.
Separatist fighters on Saturday joined Islamic militants in launching one of the biggest coordinated attacks on the Malian army in the capital and several other cities that left at least 16 wounded.
The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali, while al-Qaida and Islamic State group-aligned militants have been fighting the government for over a decade.
Malian troops and Russian mercenaries withdrew from the northern city of Kidal after the attacks, the rebels said Sunday.
A spokesperson for the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA, a separatist group, said the Russian Africa Corps troops and the Malian military withdrew from the city after an agreement was reached for their peaceful exit.
“Kidal is declared free,” said FLA spokesperson Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadan.
The Malian army did not respond to requests for comment but in an earlier statement said they were “tracking down terrorist armed groups in Kidal.”
The separatists have been fighting for years to create an independent state in northern Mali. Kidal had long served as a stronghold of the rebellion before being taken by Malian government forces and Russian mercenaries in 2023. Its capture marked a significant symbolic victory for the junta and its Russian allies.
It was the first time the separatists worked alongside the al-Qaida-linked militant group JNIM, which also claimed responsibility for Saturday's attacks on Bamako's international airport and four other cities, including Kidal, in central and northern Mali.
“This operation is being carried out in partnership with the JNIM, which is also committed to defending the people against the military regime in Bamako,” Ramadan said.
Wassim Nasr, a Sahel specialist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center security think tank, said that the coordination between the two groups, as well as the explicit call for the Russian military to leave, is new.
“The coordination, conducting attacks all over the country at the same time, real coordination on the military level but also on the political level because both claims of both groups they acknowledged that they worked together, this is a first,” said Nasr.
Mali government spokesperson Gen. Issa Ousmane Coulibaly said on state television late Saturday that 16 people were wounded, including civilians and military personnel, and that several militants were killed. He did not provide a death toll.
The governor of Bamako's district, Abdoulaye Coulibaly, announced a three-day overnight curfew, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The Economic Community of West African States has condemned the attacks and called on “all states, security forces, regional mechanisms and populations of West Africa to unite and mobilize in a coordinated effort to combat this scourge.”
The separatists called on Russia to “reconsider its support for the military junta in Bamako, whose actions have contributed to the suffering of the civilian population.”
Following military coups, the juntas in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso turned from Western allies to Russia for help in combating Islamic militants. But the security situation has worsened in recent times, with a record number of attacks by militants. Government forces have also been accused of killing civilians they suspect of collaborating with militants.
In 2024, an al-Qaida-linked group claimed an attack on Bamako's airport and a military training camp in the capital, killing scores of people.
Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said that while the attacks were a major blow to the credibility of Mali's Russian partners, JNIM is unlikely to take control of Bamako in the near term due to opposition from the local population.
“The attacks are a major blow to Russia as the mercenaries had no intelligence about the attacks and were unable to protect major cities. They have unnecessarily worsened the conflict by not distinguishing between civilians and combatants,” Laessing said.
