In a shocking move, Governor Vajubhai Vala on Friday has appointed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator K G Bopaiah as the pro-tem speaker of Karnataka Assembly. Bopaiah will administer oath to newly elected members at 11 am on Saturday.
This was expected, considering the governor’s recent actions which clearly indicated that he was acting according to PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah’s instructions.
The rules and conventions require the senior most MLA to be appointed as pro-tem speaker which in this case is Congress MLA R.V. Deshpande. In direct and express breach of this, the governor appointed five-term MLA Bopaiah over eight-term MLA Deshpande from Congress. The Congress will move the Supreme Court, sources informed NC24*7.
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The BJP’s decision to force the governor to appoint Bopaiah is not surprising as he has favoured BS Yeddurappa even in the past. Interestingly, Bopaiah has faced the apex court’s wrath for backing Yeddurappa previously.
Read more: Karnataka trust vote: Supreme Court rejects BJP’s devious ‘secret ballot’ ploy
In October 2010, when several BJP MLAs objected to the government under the leadership of Yeddyurappa due to mining scam, Bopaiah was the speaker. He had disqualified 11 rebel BJP MLAs and 5 independents from the Assembly.
The Supreme Court not only quashed his decision but slammed him for the move and the manner in which he had acted during the trust vote which had saved the Yeddurappa government. The apex court had said that it was against “natural justice” and “fair play”.