Congress sticks to its wait and watch policy

With Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa accepting Governor HR Bhardwaj’s offer of a fresh floor test, the Congress continues with its wait-and-watch policy.

With Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa accepting Governor HR Bhardwaj’s offer of a fresh floor test, the Congress continues with its wait-and-watch policy. The party is hopeful that the first BJP government in the South will fall on its own due to the internal rebellion.

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The Congress-led Central Government got more time to decide on the crisis after the High Court adjourned till Monday the hearing on a petition filed by 11 BJP and five independent legislators who have sought quashing of their disqualification by speaker K.G. Bopaiah.

Though Bhardwaj has already sent his report to the Centre, the issue did not come up for discussion at Tuesday's Union Cabinet meeting.

But the day saw hectic deliberations within the Congress. Party president Sonia Gandhi discussed the issue with party general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Ghulam Nabi Azad and Law Minister Veerappa Moily. PM Manmohan Singh also held consultations with his cabinet colleagues from Karnataka.

Congress managers are of the opinion that any decision taken in haste might backfire.

Though imposition of President’s rule and keeping the state assembly under animation is an option, the government is wary of using Article 356 given that the UPA does not have majority in Rajya Sabha.

The party also found nothing wrong in Bhardwaj asking the state government to seek another trust vote. "He is well within his constitutional rights to do so. Instead of putting their house in order, BJP is targeting the governor and the Congress. What happened in Karnataka is unprecedented… BJP should be ashamed of it," party spokesman Mohan Prakash said.