By IANS,
New Delhi : Karnataka Speaker K.G. Bopaiah’s decision to disqualify lawmakers from the assembly and conduct a voice vote to save the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was “unconstitutional”, union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily said Monday.
“The speaker’s decision was partisan. He has acted in a manner that is unconstitutional. No notice was served to MLAs before disqualifying them. No procedure was followed. The legal, the constitutional procedure that you ought to follow before suspension or expulsion was bypassed,” Moily told reporters here.
The first BJP government in Karnataka earlier in the day won the confidence motion by a voice vote amid chaos in the assembly as the opposition Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) cried foul and said it all happened in too much of a hurry.
The law minister said “fear psychosis” was created in the assembly before the speaker allowed the vote of confidence through voice vote.
He said the BJP has “lost the moral ground” to remain in power and added that it was a “minority government” ruling the state that has no confidence of its own members.
Moily stated that it was for Governor H.R. Bharadwaj as a “constitutional head of the state” to take action “in accordance with the constitution”.
The law minister, however, stated that he was not aware if the governor has recommended disqualification of the government and president’s rule in the state.