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Friday, March 29 2024
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Bengaluru

Current political drama in KarNataka brings back memories of 2010

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Bengaluru: The political drama that has been unraveling in Karnataka, post a fractured mandate in the Assembly elections seems to have kept everyone hooked to the developments.

The BJP which has the support of 104 MLAs has been directed by the Supreme Court to go for a trust vote today (May 19) at 4 pm to prove its majority. However, with the BJP requiring support of nearly 13 MLAs to prove its majority and form the government, speculations about the BJP poaching members of the opposition have been rife.

In the midst of this drama and shortly after the Apex court directive, the Congress came out with another allegation that the BJP had bribed one of its MLA elects to vote in their favor during the trust vote. To back its claims, the Congress, on Friday released an audio tape of a conversation where MLA-elect of Raichur Rural, Basavagouda Daddal was being offered Rs 150 crores to vote in favor of the BJP. It has claimed that the man making this offer on behalf of the BJP is none other than tainted mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy on the basis of the voice that can be heard in the tape.

Interestingly, these events reminds one of the October 2010 episode when the Yeddyurappa government had to take a floor test after a no-confidence motion was tabled against it by the Opposition, a Congress-JD(S) combine. Back then, Yeddyuraapa had to undergo two floor tests to prove his majority.

The 2010 situation had arisen because of a rebellion within the BJP, said to have been instigated by the opposition. Since it was feared that several of their MLas may defect to other parties the BJP MLAs had been taken to resorts by Janardhana Reddy and Yeddyurappa. The JD(S) had however managed to poach few of the BJP leaders who were being housed at a resort else where.

In a striking similarity to the current scenario, the BJP had back then released an audio tape purportedly of HD Kumaraswamy luring the then BJP MLA Appachchu Ranjan with the promise of a ministerial berth just a day ahead of the trust vote. The excerpts of the alleged conversation was released by Appachchu Ranjan to the media later.

Though situations have reversed in the sense that it is the Congress and JDS combine, who housed their MLAs at various resorts in the city as well as out of the state out of fear of poaching attempt by the BJP. An audio tape released by the Congress, on Friday had a similar scenario play out, where Reddy is purportedly offering Basavangouda money and a ministerial berth.

Notably, another common thread between both the scenarios is K G Bopaiah. Bopaiah who has been allowed to continue as the Pro tem Speaker for the floor test scheduled today was also the Speaker presiding over the floor test in 2010. The JD(S) and Congress had managed to turn five independents who had previously aligned with BJP, and also 12 of its MLAs. Bopaiah conducted a floor test with a voice vote. The 17 MLAs who had defected were immediately disqualified. There was massive chaos in the Assembly with one of the legislators even attacking a security guard.

After the fiasco, the Opposition had appealed to the Supreme Court, which struck down the Speaker’s order and ordered another trust vote.

Whether the BJP will be able to prove its majority on the floor today is still to be seen.

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