Sources say that the Reddy brothers are in negotiations with the five disqualified independent MLAs to take them back in the government
Sources say that the Reddy brothers are in negotiations with the five disqualified independent MLAs to take them back in the government
The fate of the five disqualified independents hangs in the balance. According to sources, the Reddy brothers are understood to have given hope to them by taking them back into their fold, while the 11 disqualified legislators from BJP look hopeless.
As a part of an attempted political coup to topple Yeddyurappa government, engineered by JD(S) State President HD Kumaraswamy, the independents -- PM Narendraswamy, Goolihatti Shekar, Venkataramanappa, D Sudhakar, and Shivaraj Thangadgi, formerly cabinet ministers, withdrew support from the government. This was followed by Speaker KG Bopaiah disqualifying them as legislators, along with the 11 BJP MLAs, who had joined hands with JD(S).
If the disqualification is upheld, the legislators will lose their positions and they will not be allowed to contest elections for the next six years.u00a0While the case is pending in the court, the independents are arguing the anti-defection law does not affect them as they didn't belong to any party.
The court has said that if the final verdict is against their disqualification, then the government will have to re-work on its majority with the revised strength of the house, including them. However, the verdict is not likely to affect the government as Chief Minister Yeddyurappa won the trust vote with a margin of six votes yesterday. In the 208 member strong assembly, 106 votes were for the government and 100 were against it.
Vartur Prakash, who was seen with Kumaraswamy earlier, came to the Reddys' fold on Wednesday. This triggered the efforts to negotiate with the rebel independents. A source close to the Reddys said that some of the independents had already been approached and the talks were on.
As a plan of action, if their support to the government is ensured, the government weakens the case against them so that court verdict favours them. And the speaker, taking the verdict as an advice, will revoke the disqualification, as he is not allowed to reverse his own ruling on disqualification.
"We are exploring all possible ways within the legal framework, and hope to find a way out," said the source. " As far as the disqualified BJP MLAs are concerned, we are not interested."
However, there is a hitch. The JD(S) leaders are claiming to have paid huge amounts of cash to poach them before 'operation topple', and it would not be easy to come out of the trap. "They can't break a commitment," said a JD(S) leader. "We have evidence that they were with us, and they will face trouble if they say otherwise."
Narendraswamy said, "We were upset over the ill-treatment we got in the government. That is our only contention. I don't want to comment on the so-called rapprochement at this stage."
| Number game |
| 224: Total number of MLAs in the state assembly |
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