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SC directive on floor test

Kashmir Times. Dated: 5/18/2018 10:32:21 PM

The BJP appears to be a bad loser in the power play of politics in Karnataka where it cannot claim victory over other parties

The Supreme Court directive on Friday to Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa to prove his majority in a floor test in Legislative Assembly by 4.00 PM tomorrow is a welcome decision amid high-voltage drama that has been going on for the last three days. The directive to this effect was issued on a petition filed by Congress and Janata Dal-S combine challenging the governor Vajubhai R Vala's decision to invite Yeddyurappa and swearing in him as chief minister on Wednesday despite the fact the BJP had only 104 members falling short of at least 8 MLAs to cross the half-way mark. The directive that the present chief minister cannot take any policy decision till the floor test is over is also a welcome decision. This is mainly is the light of some transfers ordered by Yeddyurappa after his swearing in on Thursday that was aimed at putting pressure on the Congress-JD-S combine members through the police officers. In the same order, the SC refused to grant more time for the floor test to BJP, which was allowed 15 days for proving majority in the House by the governor while inviting Yeddyurappa for swearing in ceremony. The contention that such a long time allowed to the CM was aimed at clandestine horse-trading by the ruling BJP alliance at the centre, which was misusing the office of the governor for this purpose. The Congress-JD-S combine had expressed its willingness to go in for the floor test at a short notice because they fear that delay in correcting the governor's unconstitutional and undemocratic decision would open up the petty politicking of influencing opposition MLAs by the BJP. The top court has also stayed Congress-JD-S' plea challenging Karnataka governor's decision to nominate an Anglo-Indian MLA to the Assembly, that could add one more member to the BJP camp without any legal sanction from the constitution or otherwise. The urgent hearing was also necessitated from the political developments taking place in Karnataka and on the senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani's petition seeking to put an end to the horse-trading attempts of the BJP. The SC has sought production of the two letters written on May 15 and 16 by Yeddyurappa to the governor informing him that the BJP could prove its majority on the floor of the House in an unspecified trame-frame to be fixed by the governor himself. The high-end drama shifted its venue to the SC after the governor invited Yeddyurappa to be sworn-in as chief minister on Wednesday evening.
Earlier, by summarily ignoring the claim of H D Kumaraswamy, governor abandoned both propriety and common sense, acting in a politically partisan manner unbecoming of his office. Kumaraswamy was elected leader of the Janata Dal-S Legislature Party and, with the declared support of the Congress, had the backing of a majority in the newly elected Assembly. The leader of the BJP Legislature Party, Yeddyurappa, offered no demonstrable proof of majority, but was invited to form the government, and given all of 15 days to prove he had the confidence of the House, solely on the basis of being the leader of the single largest party. Far from ushering in a stable government, the governor unbolted the doors to allow room for the BJP to try to engineer defections. In situations such as these, the Constitution allows an element of discretion to the governor, but this power was never meant to be used arbitrarily and capriciously. In defence of the governor's action, BJP leaders have cited the S R Bommai judgment, which ruled on the course open for the governor in the event of a chief minister losing majority in the House, but offered no opinion on a post-poll situation, where it said the governor had to 'invite the leader of the party commanding majority in the House or the single largest party or group to form the government'. Nothing in the judgment privileges the single largest party over the largest group when it comes to being given the first preference in forming a government. The BJP leaders have now staked out positions that are at odds with those they adopted after the Assembly elections in Manipur, Meghalaya and Goa, when the single largest party, the Congress, was denied a chance to form the government. Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had a weak defence on this turnaround: the Congress, he claimed, had never staked a claim in those states. No matter how things turn out from now on, the BJP has emerged as a bad loser. The party played a smart card in Goa and Manipur to deny the Congress, but is unable to accept defeat in Karnataka when beaten at its own game. The electoral politics is not always about gaining power; sometimes it is also about learning to sit in the Opposition, when the political party does not have the sufficient numbers. It is the power play in politics, but not the end of the world. The BJP may have beaten the Congress in Karnataka, but it may not have paid the price for this victory as yet.