Congress, JD(S) in a huddle to discuss next course of action
Bengaluru, July 7: A day after the resignation of over a dozen ruling Congress-JD(S) MLAs rocked the ruling coalition in Karnataka and plunged the state into a political crisis, both parties have gone into a huddle to discuss the next course of action to save the government.
This comes even as opposition BJP said it is keeping a watch on the ongoing developments and indicated that the party was looking at options to form the government.
Rocked by the resignations of 10 of its MLAs, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah has convened a meeting Tuesday to discuss the ongoing political developments and the assembly session, starting from July 12.
In an intimation to Congress MLAs, he has warned that their absence would be viewed seriously.
The meeting gains significance amid reports that more legislators are likely to resign in the next couple of days.
Congress leaders, including AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal who has camped here, have been holding a series of meetings on Sunday and strategising the plan of action in a last ditch effort to save the government.
They are also trying to reach out to party MLAs who have resigned and trying to pacify them, sources said, adding that attempts are also being made to contact those whom they suspect are "vulnerable" and may resign.
Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, Minister D K Shivakumar and KPCC Working President Eshwar Khandre are part of the meetings.
Speaking to reporters, Shivakumar said meetings are going on and "we are trying to find a medicine and solution" to the current crisis.
"I hope that everything will be resolved soon and am ready for any sacrifices to save the government and party."
Khandre said attempts are on to pacify MLAs and solve the issues that they have.
We are trying to reach out to MLAs directly...there are some minor differences, which are normal. The leadership is trying to sort out them. Everything will be alright, wait and watch," he said.
The Congress' high command is said to have questioned state unit leaders about how they had allowed such a large number of them to happen, party sources said.
They also specifically asked about the resignations of Byrati Basavaraj (K R Puram),S T Somashekar (Yeshwanthpur) and Munirathna (Rajarajeshwaringar), considered close to Siddaramaiah.
Meetings are also on in JD(S) circles, at the residence of party patriarch Deve Gowda.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who will arrive here this evening after his ten day long US trip, is expected to chair a meeting of JD(S) MLAs, state JD(S) chief H K Kumaraswamy said.
"During the meeting at the JD(S) supremos residence, the current political developments in the state were discussed...
attempts are on to pacify and get three party MLAs to withdraw their resignations," he said.
Shivakumar,considered the Congress troubleshooter, met Gowda at his home and discussed the ongoing developments.
The Congress-JD(S) government has plunged into a crisis, with 13 MLAs of the alliance submitting their resignation to the Speaker, 12 of them on Saturday.
Nine MLAs of the Congress and three of JD(S) reached the Speaker's office to put in their papers Saturday and later met Governor Vajubhai Vala at the Raj Bhavan.
Another Congress MLA, Anand Singh, submitted his resignation on July 1.
The ruling coalition, which has a strength of 118 in the 224-member assembly, faces the risk of losing its majority if the resignations are accepted.
Ten of the MLAs are now camping at a hotel in Mumbai.
Congress has alleged that BJP was facilitating their stay there in a bid to destabilize the government in Karnataka.
The Maharashtra BJP claimed Sunday it was not aware of the presence of the MLAs in Mumbai, even as a saffron party leader was spotted at a hotel where the legislators are put up.
In Karnataka, Congress sources said a final shape to the party's plan of action was likely to be finalized once they meet the Chief Minister, including a cabinet reshuffle to make way for disgruntled MLAs by asking some loyalists of both parties to resign from the Ministry.
Amid reports of talks about a change of guard as an option to save the government by making veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge the Chief Minister, Kharge himself ruled it out, saying "false" and "flimsy" information was being spread through the media just to divide the party.
"I don't know about it. I want this alliance government to continue and go smoothly," he said, adding he would also talk to the MLAs to withdraw their resignations,
He charged the BJP with trying to destabilize the "non BJP" elected governments across the country.
Stating that attempts are on pacify the MLAs, Siddaramaiah alleged that BJP was behind all these, using power and money as allurements to lure the disgruntled MLAs.
However, seven time Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy, who has resigned, said both Kumaraswamy and Venugopal spoke to him and he told them of the circumstances leading to his resignation.
"I was kind of pushed (by circumstances in the party) to resign....I have resigned as MLA, but not from Congress," he told reporters here.
BJP state unit chief B S Yeddyurappa said the party was watching the political developments and that those in the party are not "sanyasis" to rule out the possibility of forming the government.
Ruling out the possibility of any mid-term polls,he said "it has been just 13 months after the assembly election. We will not allow election to happen.
"Let them (Congress-JDS) give good administration.If they can't, we are there with 105 MLAs strength...we will not meet the Governor or go to Delhi... we are watching developments."
The JD(S)-Congress coalition's total strength, including those who have put in their papers, is 118 (Congress-78, JD(S)-37, BSP-1 and Independents-2), besides the Speaker.
BJP has 105 MLAs in the House, where the half-way mark is 113.
If the resignations are accepted,the coalition's tally will reduce to 105.The Speaker also has a vote.
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36 ex-judges slam Opposition move to impeach Justice Swaminathan
New Delhi (PTI): Thirty-six former judges on Saturday gave a call to people, including parliamentarians, to denounce opposition leaders' move to impeach Madras High Court judge Justice G R Swaminathan, saying such an attempt, if allowed to proceed, would cut at the very roots of democracy and independence of the judiciary.
On December 1, Justice Swaminathan held that the Arulmighu Subramania Swamy Temple was duty-bound to light the lamp at the Deepathoon, in addition to the customary lighting near the Uchi Pillaiyar Mandapam.
The single-judge bench said that doing so would not encroach upon the rights of the adjacent dargah or the Muslim community.
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The order sparked a row, and on December 9, several opposition MPs, led by the DMK, submitted a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to move a motion for the removal of the judge.
Taking serious exception to the move, the former judges in a joint statement said this is a "brazen attempt to browbeat judges who do not fall in line with the ideological and political expectations of a particular section of society".
"If such an attempt is permitted to proceed, it would cut at the very roots of our democracy and the independence of the judiciary," they said.
"We therefore call upon all stakeholders -- Members of Parliament across party lines, members of the Bar, civil society, and citizens at large -- to unequivocally denounce this move and ensure that it is nipped in the bud at the very inception," they added.
The statement emphasised that the judges must remain answerable to their oath and to the Constitution of India, not to "partisan political pressures or ideological intimidation".
"The message from all constitutional stakeholders must be clear and firm: in a republic governed by the rule of law, judgments are tested by appeals and legal critique, and not by threats of impeachment for political nonconformity," it said.
The statement was signed by former Supreme Court judge Krishn Murari J as well as ex-chief justices and former judges of different high courts.
The statement said the opposition party's move is not an "isolated aberration". It fits into a "clear and deeply troubling pattern" in India's recent constitutional history, where sections of the political class have sought to discredit and intimidate the higher judiciary whenever outcomes do not align with their interests, it added.
"The unprecedented bid in 2018 to initiate impeachment proceedings against then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, the sustained campaigns of vilification directed at Chief Justices Ranjan Gogoi, S A Bobde and D Y Chandrachud while they were in office," the statement noted.
"The targeted attacks now being mounted against the incumbent CJI, Justice Surya Kant, whenever a judgment/remark displeases a political constituency, are all manifestations of the same trend," it said.
"This is not principled, reasoned criticism of judicial decisions; it is an attempt to weaponise impeachment and public calumny as instruments of pressure -- a practice that strikes at the heart of judicial independence and the basic norms of constitutional democracy," the statement added.
