New Delhi, May 18
The Congress moved the Supreme Court on Friday challenging the appointment of BJP legislator K.G. Bopaiah as Pro-Tem Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly.
Bopaiah will be presiding over the floor test on Saturday to ascertain whether newly-appointed Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa enjoys a majority support in the Assembly or not.
A team of Congress leaders arrived at the Supreme Court on Friday evening to file the petition. Once the plea is accepted by the Registry, they will approach the registrar (vacation) for an early hearing late on Friday.
The Congress has contended that Bopaiah is not the senior-most member of the newly-elected House and as per the Parliamentary convention, it is only the senior-most member in terms of number of times he has been elected to the Assembly who can be a Pro-Tem Speaker.
Earlier in the day, the party said Bopaiah's appointment was made "with the sole intent of manufacturing a majority out of minority for Yeddyurappa".
New Delhi, May 18
The Congress on Friday opposed the appointment of BJP legislator K.G. Bopaiah as Karnataka Assembly's Pro-Tem Speaker and said that the party will challenge Governor Vajubhai Vala's decision in the Supreme Court.
The party claimed that Bopaiah's appointment was made "with the sole intent of manufacturing a majority out of minority for B.S. Yeddyurappa".
"The option of going back to the (apex) court is open. We will positively bring this matter before the court," Congress Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters here.
He said that Bopaiah appointment was the "third encounter of the Constitution".
"This is the encounter of the Constitution by the Governor at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah," he said adding that the trio of Modi, Shah, and Vala -- "in order to help the Yeddy, Reddy gang -- will not be permitted to subjugate democracy".
"He (Bopaiah) violates every single constitutional norm. The truth remains that the appointment of Bopaiah as a Pro-Term Speaker voilates every settled constitutional tradition and every settled parliamentary practice," Surjewala said.
Attacking the Governor, he said: "Vala cannot murder democracy in broad daylight, nor can he trample upon the Constitution."
He said the appointment of three time MLA as a pro-term speaker discarding the traditional claim of the senior most legislator itself reflects that the Bharatiya Janata Party doesn't have a majority in the new Karnataka Assembly.
"Just that they are trying to manufacture the majority by fraud," Surjewala said.
"The people of Karnataka are determined to foil and defeat these evil and nefarious designs of Vajubhai Vala, Narendra Modi, Amit Shah," he said.
Surjewala said that the BJP can't appoint a Pro-Tem Speaker of its own comfort. "They have to adhere to constitutional norms," he said.
Bopaiah, 62, is a three-time legislator from Virajpet in Kodagu region, 260 km from Bengaluru. He was Speaker during the BJP rule in the state from 2008-13.
