Recent political turmoil in Karnataka has created unprecedented whirlwind which undermined key and important roles like that of a speaker. The current administration, in spite of not having the majority, is hell bent on remaining into power, and trying every possible means, constitutional or unconstitutional, to save their government. 

Fourteen month old Karnataka Government was formed when two most unlikely foes turned friends joined hands. The government never looked like a steady government and had a tumultuous journey so far. After Assembly election 2018, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as single largest party with 104 seats, but agonizingly falling short of eight seats to claim majority in the house of 222 seats. Determined to stop BJP from forming government, two arch rivals- JD(S) and Congress, who fought tooth and nail against each other during the election, decided to form a government, headed by H.D. Kumaraswami, leader of the third largest party with 37 elected legislatures only. Other party of the alliance, Congress managed to win 80 seats.

To prevent BJP from forming their first government in southern part of India, two arch rivals joined the hand, with Congress extending support to JD(S) for forming government. Both JD(S) and Congress were apprehensive that if BJP managed to form a government in Karnataka, that could have been seen as their inroad to south India, only part of the country which managed to keep them out of power at state level.

However, from the very beginning, the coalition was marred with infighting and group politics. On many occasion, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswami expressed dissatisfaction on the behaviors of key congress leaders, many a times stopping just short of calling them traitors, trying to pull his government down. On the other hand, Congress state leadership was also not very happy by conceding top post to JD(S), the smaller alliance of the coalition. At root level, the grudge among party workers were even more, especially in areas like Mysore, where BJP barely had any presence and the contest was mainly between Congress and JD(S).

During 2019 general election, both Congress and JDS joined hands and fought together, which turned out to be a disaster. BJP, surpassing all exit poll predictions, swept entire Karnataka and won 25 out of 28 seats in the state, reducing the seat tallies of Congress and JDS to one each only. Result of the election brought even more mistrust and dissent between Congress and JDS with leaders from both the parties started blaming each others for the defeat.

Political drama in Karnataka reached its peak when 13 MLAs from Congress and 3 MLAs from JDS resigned from their posts, reducing the strength of the coalition government to 102. With two more independent MLAs withdrawing their support from government and extending their support to BJP, the number for incumbent government slumped even further with both Coalition and BJP started accusing each other of horse trading.

In spite of lot of persuasion from top leadership, rebel MLAs stood their ground and announced that they would not be taking back the resignations. They even approached supreme court, fearing that Congress and JDS could issue whips to force them to participate in confidence motion and vote in favor of the alliance. In its reply to the plea, apex court of the country made it clear that rebel MLAs could not be forced to attend any assembly sessions or participate in voting process, providing relief to the rebels as well as to BJP camp.

However, the verdict did not go well with Congress and JDS camp as that had eventually confirmed ouster of their government, which hoped to force its rebel MLAs to vote in the favor of coalition government. After the verdict, both Congress and JDS came down heavily on supreme court, even questioning their authority to interfere in constitutional process.

This is not only ironical, but also exposes the political bankruptcy and hypocrisy of country’s oldest political party, which is fighting for its survival. It was the same coalition which approached the apex court when BJP state chief Yeddyurappa was invited by governor to form the government back in 2018. When apex court ordered Mr. Yeddyurappa to prove his majority within two days, quashing seven days’ time line – given by the Governor, it was these two parties, who hailed the verdict as a historical one. So it is undeniable that for Congress, the sanctity of country’s highest court is valid as long as the verdicts are in their favor.

What happened after that was even more bizarre. The motion for floor test was put forward and debate started on last Thursday. Traditionally, there would be debates, with members from both sides debating on the issue, before the day is concluded with floor test. On rare occasions, there would be spillover to next day, when debates take more than a day to be completed. However, from the very beginning of the debate, the coalition government made their intentions clear. They wanted to stretch the debate and delay the voting as long as possible. It was conspicuous that the government, falling short of majority, was trying all their tricks, in a desperate effort to save their government. 

In such situation, the role of the speaker, who is the coordinator and leader of house, becomes extremely important, and sadly for Indian democracy, his unabashed partisan behavior casted a shadow on the stature of the post. Speaker, who was expected to maintain the sanity of the floor and conduct proceedings accordingly, failed to conduct the floor test within two days by giving in to the demands of his party and coalition government. This was a clear mockery of democracy, where a government was allowed to escape from the floor test despite not having the numbers in their favor.

Now that the floor test is expected to happen on Monday, Congress and JDS have gotten a breather for two days, and would definitely put in a last-ditch effort to bring some of the rebel MLAs into their fold again to save the government. Though chances of their success looks slim, but the entire saga would definitely be marked as a dark episode of India’s political history and example of brazen misuse of constitutional power.

All eyes would now be on Karnataka this Monday with possibility of the floor test. We all hope that this travesty to end soon, as sooner the episode ends, better it is for Indian democracy.

Picture Courtesy: Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Author’s Note: All Views expressed on this site are my own and do not represent the opinions of any entity whosoever with which I have been, am now or will be affiliated.