The Karnataka assembly speaker KR Ramesh Kumar disqualified 14 MLAs under the anti-defection bill. They would be disqualified until the end of the assembly term.
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The 14 MLAs include Byrathi Basavaraj, Munirathna, ST Somashekar, Roshan Baig, Anand Singh, MTB Nagaraj, BC Patil, Prathap Gouda Patil, Dr Sudhakar, Shivaram Hebbar, Shrimant Patil of the Congress party and K Gopalaiah, Narayana Gowda, and AH Vishwanath of the JD(S).
The speaker had on Thursday disqualified three Congress MLAs namely R Shankar, Ramesh Jarkiholi and Mahesh Kumathalli. He said that he would take the decision on the other MLAs within a few days.
In a press conference today the speaker said, “They had sought a time of four weeks. We had given notice to them but they did not come and meet me. The respondents hence cease to be members of this assembly with immediate effect till the end of the 15th Legislative Assembly”.
The move comes a day ahead of chief minister B S Yeddyurappa moving the confidence motion in the assembly to prove his majority. Yeddyurappa took oath on Friday after the Congress-JD(S) fell on Tuesday after it lost the trust vote in the assembly. The coalition government had lost the majority after 16 MLAs from both the parties had turned rebel and resigned from the assembly.
The BJP have condemned the speaker’s decision. BJP leader AS Patil Nadahalli said, “Speaker’s decision is illegal and undemocratic. The MLAs met him and gave the resignation. Their signatures were voluntary and genuine. This is a dark day for Karnataka politics.”
The Congress-JD(S) was facing an impending collapse after 21 MLAs had resigned from the Cabinet. The coalition collapsed after it lost a trust vote in the assembly on Thursday.