Voters will reject rebels: Siddaramaiah

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court had “partially upheld” the decision of former speaker K R Ramesh Kumar, disqualifying the rebel MLAs.

“A total of 14 Congress and 3 JD(S) MLAs had resigned from the coalition government and violated the whip, after which we filed a petition with of the Speaker,” Siddaramaiah said. “There are two parts in the judgement by the Speaker. The first, disqualifying them for defecting and the second, barring them from contesting polls till the end of the term of the Assembly,” he said, adding that the top court had upheld the first part and modified the second.

Noting that the court also discussed the ‘morality’ of the resignations, Siddaramaiah said voters will reject the rebels. “Ultimately, voters’ decision will be final.”

Meanwhile, KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao termed the BJP government as “unconstitutional” and demanded its dismissal. In a tweet, Rao said the disqualification, which the SC had upheld, proved that the BJP government was “illegal” and that it had used unconstitutional means to fabricate a majority.

“If BJP has any morality left, they should not give tickets to these disqualified MLAs to contest,” he added.