It has been going on for two weeks already and there is no sign of the crisis being smoothened out anytime soon. It began on July 6, when 16 Congress-JD(S) MLAs announced their resignations. Attempts to bring about a truce between the parties in power and the rebel MLAs did not yield results, and then came the charges of horse trading. The Speaker, who is from the ruling combination, rejected the resignations on the basis that they were not in order, forcing the rebels to seek the intervention of the Supreme Court. Now, despite directions from the Governor that the trust vote be held by a certain time, the Assembly is yet to vote on the motion, though discussions have taken place.
The small majority with which the government in the State has been functioning, makes it easy pickings for political instability. The fact is that the Karnataka coalition government has been holding on to power since last year when it came to form the government virtually by the skin of its teeth. Though BJP emerged as the single largest party in the elections, the Congress and the JD(S) came together to stake claim and form the government. The BJP was given first chance but as it fell short of a majority, BS Yeddurappa resigned as Chief Minister before facing the confidence motion. The delicate balance of power that favoured the Congress-JD(S) combine altered with the decision of the MLAs to quit.
While the crisis is heading towards a Constitutional impasse, the Governor of the State is not in a position to dismiss the government, as there is a Supreme Court judgement of 1994 in another such political circus that played out in Karnataka itself. The judgement states that the dismissal of a government without a floor test is unconstitutional. The government of SR Bommai had been dismissed and President’s Rule had been imposed. The dismissal was held unconstitutional, but years later. This judgement had, however, forced AB Vajpayee government to reinstate the Rabri Devi government in Bihar in 1999. The Supreme Court judgement has acted as a restraint on the Centre in dismissing State governments.
At the current point of time, it appears unlikely that the impasse in Karnataka could end before Monday, which is the day that the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly has made it clear would see a finality to the issue. Whichever way the vote goes, the other side is likely to fight it out legally. Besides, the ruling combine has already approached the Supreme Court with two issues – that parties have the right to issue whips to their MLAs and that when the House is in session, the Governor cannot issue directions or deadlines as to a trust vote. This makes it the absolute prerogative of the Speaker of the Assembly to decide when the vote will take place.
Ironically, while this has been transpiring in Karnataka, in neighbouring Goa 10 MLAs of the Congress broke away and joined the BJP in a smooth operation. Three of the 10 MLAs are already ministers and have even faced the House. However, the defection in Goa did not bring down any government, only strengthened the ruling BJP, taking it from 17 MLAs to 27 and giving it a majority in the Assembly. In Karnataka the defections are an attempt to bring down a government. Karnataka, however, is not the only State that has been shaken by political defections since the May 23 Lok Sabha election results. Resignations of MLAs to join the BJP have taken place in other States too, as the opposition throughout the country gets systematically weakened.
