E-Paper
BJP fields 13 Karnataka rebel MLAs in bypolls
The 13 disqualified would contest elections the seats they earlier held. They include 10 former Congress and three ex-JD(S) lawmakers.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday gave tickets to 13 of the 17 disqualified lawmakers, whose resignations toppled the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) or JD (S) government in Karnataka in July, for the bypolls in the state next month.
The tickets were allotted hours after 16 of the 17 joined the BJP in Bengaluru in the presence of chief minister B S Yediyurappa and the party’s state unit chief, Nalin Kumar Kateel, and general secretary, P Muralidhar Rao.
The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday upheld the disqualification of the 17 even as it allowed them to contest the bypolls.
Yediyurappa praised the 17 and said their “sacrifice” of quitting enabled him to become the chief minister again “... As the chief minister along with the party president, I would like to assure you that we will keep the promises made to you word to word and would not betray you,” Yediyurappa said.
The 13 disqualified would contest elections the seats they earlier held. They include 10 former Congress and three ex-JD(S) lawmakers.
The disqualification reduced the strength of the 225-member Karnataka assembly to 208. The BJP currently has the simple majority of 105 in the House and also has the support of an Independent lawmaker. The Congress-JD (S) alliance has 101 seats.
The bypolls to 15 out of the 17 assembly seats left vacant following the disqualification are scheduled on December 5. The BJP needs to win six out of the 15 to keep its majority. The bypolls to two other seats are not being held as petitions challenging their results in the 2018 elections are pending before the Karnataka high court.
It was not immediately clear who the BJP candidates would be for the remaining two assembly seats.
The seven-day nomination process for the bypolls began on Monday. The bypolls were to be held along with Maharashtra and Haryana assembly polls on October 21 but were rescheduled in view of the SC’s verdict on the disqualification of the 17.
The 14 Congress and three JD (S) lawmakers were disqualified before chief minister H D Kumaraswamy resigned after losing a trust vote on July 23. The resignation paved the way for the Yediyurappa-led BJP government.
“The Supreme court allowing us to contest the election is important to us. We welcome it. We are politicians. This verdict is important to us,” said A H Vishwanath, one of the disqualified lawmakers.
Some BJP leaders have expressed unhappiness over the induction of the defectors. Sharath Bache Gowda, a BJP leader, on Wednesday said that if M T B Nagaraj,one of the disqualified lawmakers, got a party ticket, he will contest as an independent. In the 2018 polls, Sharath narrowly lost to Nagaraj who was then contesting on a Congress ticket.
In Hirekerur, BJP leader U G Bankar has threatened to quit if B C Patil, another disqualified lawmakers whom he lost to in the previous election, is given a ticket.
Raju Kage has quit the BJP and is all set to contest as a Congress candidate from Kagawad. “How can they induct and reward [another disqualified lawmaker Srimanth Balashaeb Patil] him?”
(With agency inputs)
