K'taka crisis: NDA to meet PM, asks BSY to parade pro-MLAs

New Delhi, May 16: Taking on Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj for recommending President's Rule, NDA today (May 16) decided to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to demand his dismissal and asked Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa to parade all his supporting MLAs in front of the President.

"The NDA strongly condemns the action of Governor of Karnataka in sending a report to the Central government. The governor's conduct is partisan. It defies all constitutional norms and principles. There is absolutely no doubt that the Yeddyurappa government enjoys an overwhelming majority in the Assembly," senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley told reporters.

He maintained that as a result of the Supreme Court judgement, the 11 suspended MLAs have been held to be members of the BJP and were bound by its whip.

The NDA decided to meet the Prime Minister to raise this issue and demand recall of Governor Bhardwaj.

"We intend to raise two specific issues with the Prime Minister. Firstly, this report is unconstitutional and obviously must be rejected by the Central government. And secondly, the governor of Karnataka repeatedly is indulging in unconstitutionality. And so, for defying the Constitution he should be recalled as governor," Jaitley said.

The NDA leadership has also asked Yeddyurappa to bring all his MLAs to the capital and parade them in front of President Pratibha Patil to prove that he has the numbers.

"We shall take all the MLAs supporting the government to the President and demonstrate our strength in front of Rashtrapati Bhawan since a floor test is no longer required," Jaitley said.

The "urgent meeting" of the NDA leaders was held at the residence of their Working President L K Advani to discuss the issue arising out of Bhardwaj''s report which is said to have recommended President's Rule in Karnataka.

Jaitley maintained that these 11 suspended MLAs have taken back the letter they wrote on October 6, 2010 withdrawing support to the Yeddyurappa government.

"The MLAs have themselves said they support the government," he added.

The NDA maintained that 121 MLAs support the Yeddyurappa-led BJP government in Karnataka while the opposition has only 97 in the 225-member Assembly.

BJP is also miffed at Bhardwaj for not heeding to the chief minister's advise to call a special session of the Assembly today.

"The logical course would have been to have a floor test. As long as a government is in majority the governor is bound by the Constitution to act as per its advice. Bhardawj has acted unconstitutionally in not going by the advise of the council of ministers," Jaitley said.

PTI