The rebel legislators from the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) are likely to continue their stay in Mumbai for a few more days or at least till there is clarity on the yet-to-be sworn in government.
“We are in no hurry to return. There are many processes that have to be completed before we return to our State. We are watching the political developments currently,” a senior rebel legislator told The Hindu over phone. The legislator, who sought anonymity, said the swearing-in of the new government and subsequent floor test has to happen.
For nearly a fortnight, 12 rebel legislators — nine from the Congress and three from the JD(S) — are in Mumbai, and the failure of the coalition leaders to bring them back led to the fall of the government on Tuesday. Of the other three rebel Congress legislators, Shrimanth Patil, who slipped away from a resort in Bengaluru last week, is also in Mumbai and under treatment at St. George Hospital, while R. Roshan Baig is in Bengaluru. Vijayanagar legislator Anand Singh is also not in Mumbai.
R. Roshan Baig
“We are awaiting the decision of the Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar over acceptance of our legislators. Once there’s clarity on these issues, we will return. We cannot be sitting in Mumbai forever,” the senior rebel legislator said. On the threat of disqualification, he said: “All of us are senior politicians and well-versed in electoral politics. We are confident of handling the situation and we cannot be held at gun point.”
Meanwhile, in what could indicate the future political career of senior Congress legislator Mr. Baig, his son R. Ruman Baig tweeted on Tuesday night after the coalition government lost the trust vote: “It’s great for Karnataka to have the state and centre leaderships aligned. Stay tuned for our heros from Bangalore central Mr. @PCMohanMPsir & @rroshanbaig in sync will announce mega central schemes & projects for Shivajinagar Assembly. Urban masses will surely be impressed.”
Congress petition
Meanwhile, the State Congress leaders have sought to hasten the process of disqualification of the 14 MLAs, who had resigned from the Legislative Assembly and violated the party whip during the legislature session.
A delegation of the Congress led by former Chief Minister and CLP leader Siddaramaiah met Mr. Ramesh Kumar and appealed to him to disqualify MLAs who revolted against the Congress and the government by not participating in the trust vote on Tuesday.
To teach a fitting lesson to the rebels, the Congress urged the Speaker to act on the party’s petition to disqualify the MLAs from the membership of the Assembly. Mr. Siddaramaiah told media persons that the legislators elected on party ticket should commit to its principles and ideology.
Mr. Siddaramaiah tweeted: “I would like to reaffirm that those who have fallen for Operation Kamala will never be inducted back to our party.” The Speaker had said that he would act as per rules of the House and constitutional provisions related to disqualification of MLAs.
