BS Yeddyurappa

HR Bharadwaj

New Delhi, Oct. 10: Karnataka governor H.R. Bharadwaj today directed the Assembly Speaker not to disqualify any of the 14 MLAs who had withdrawn their support to the BJP before tomorrow’s trust vote.

Bharadwaj, who has had a running battle with chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa for several months, told the Speaker K.G. Bopaiah to conduct the vote of confidence on the basis of the strength each party had on October 6, the day before the 14 MLAs withdrew their support.

Bopaiah, who was to give his ruling on the BJP’s disqualification plea tonight after hearing out both sides, expressed “dismay” at the “tone and tenor” of Bharadwaj’s advisory in his reply. He alleged it amounted to interference in his functioning and claimed that just as he would function “impartially”, he expected the governor to also “uphold the traditions” of his august office.

The BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka, M. Venkaiah Naidu, also protested against the governor’s action and said the Speaker was not “bound to heed his advice”.

Bopaiah later reserved his verdict until tomorrow.

The BJP, which had the support of 123 MLAs, including six Independents on October 6, wants the rebels disqualified to reduce the effective strength of the 224-member House, which will make it easier for the government to win the confidence vote. As things stand, three of the 14 defectors have returned to the party. Five of the six Independents also rebelled. The BJP needs 113 MLAs to win the confidence vote.

BJP sources invoked a Supreme Court judgment of January 24, 2006, which said the governor was not empowered to take a view on defections and allegations of horse-trading before a trust vote. That power, the court said, vests with the Speaker.

While the party was quick to question the “legality” and “constitutionality” of the directive that the governor — a handpicked nominee of the Congress high command — had given the Speaker, BJP sources admitted that it was essentially the political message that counted.

“That is that the Opposition has the blessings of the governor and, by implication, the Centre and the Congress. That seems to have emboldened them, particularly the Janata Dal (Secular). Its leaders have succeeded in holding our rebels together. The result could go either way. We may win or we may lose,” a source conceded.

Congress sources denied the party had a hand in the Karnataka developments but said they had “no problem” with the Dal (Secular)’s effort at destabilising the government. Asked if there was a Plan B for forming an alternative government with the Dal (Secular) if it succeeds, a Union minister from the state replied: “We will take a call after the outcome of the vote.”

Party sources said the “ideal” scenario would be for the Yeddyurappa government to go and President’s rule to be imposed, which would mean Congress rule by proxy.

Since their coalition experiment with H.D. Deve Gowda and his son H.D. Kumaraswamy of the Dal (Secular) had cost the Congress dear in the 2008 Assembly elections, the high command was wary of repeating it, the sources said.