Cong to knock on President's door seeking BSY’s ouster

The Congress will approach President Ram Nath Kovind seeking dismissal of the BS Yediyurappa government in Karnataka on grounds that it came to power through unconstitutional means, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah said Thursday.

This comes on the back of a video leak in which Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa is heard suggesting that Union Home Minister and BJP national president Amit Shah was involved in the defection of 17 rebel Congress and JD(S) legislators, which caused the downfall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government.

“We will meet the President, brief him about all this and seek dismissal of this government. Even the Union Home Minister has no right to continue in his post. We will seek an appointment and go whenever we get it,” Siddaramaiah told reporters.

“They are the ones who caused the defections, which led to the fall of an elected government. If the 17 MLAs hadn’t resigned, by way of inducements, the government wouldn’t have fallen,” he said.

The former chief minister pointed out that Narayana Gowda, one of the 17 disqualified ‘rebel’ MLAs, had recently said that he was promised Rs 1,000 crore for the development of his KR Pet constituency. “Isn’t that an inducement? Another MLA Srinivas Gowda said he was offered Rs 5 crore. And Yediyurappa admitted that it was his voice in an audio clip in which he is heard luring a legislator in Devadurga,” Siddaramaiah said.

Yediyurappa’s latest video leak came as a shot in the arm for the Congress, which moved Supreme Court with it as evidence to bolster its case against the disqualified legislators.

“They have done horse-trading, they caused defections, they acted unconstitutionally and they've purposefully defeated the purpose of 10th Schedule that was to prevent ‘aaya ram, gaya ram’. Those in Constitutional posts - Union Home Minister and Chief Minister - have acted against the 10th Schedule,” Siddaramaiah asserted.

The BJP came to power on July 26 after the Congress-JD(S) coalition collapsed with the disqualification of 17 legislators, which was a protracted drama that ended with a floor test in which the saffron party defeated the alliance.