Left, JDS, RLD Leaders asks Yeddyurappa, Karnataka Speaker to Quit

New Delhi, May 19: Top leaders of the Left parties, Janata Dal (Secular) and Rashtriya Lok Dal met here today and demanded the resignation of both Karnataka Chief Minister Shri B S Yeddyurappa and state Assembly Speaker Shri K G Bopaiah in the light of the severe strictures passed against them by the Supreme Court of India in the MLAS disqualification case.“Both the Speaker and the Chief Minister have neither the moral nor the legal right to continue in office. They must quit forthwith”, the leaders said in a Joint Press Statement issued after an hour long breakfast meeting at the residence of the former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) National President Shri H D Deve Gowda.Reading out from the statement, CPI (M) Politburo member and party leader in Rajya Sabha Shri Sitaram Yechuri said, “The quashing by the Supreme Court of the Karnataka Assembly Speaker’s decision to disqualify 16 MLAs prior to the Confidence Vote and dismissal of application filed by B S Yeddyurappa seeking their disqualification is a clear and severe indictment of both. The Supreme Court has termed this decision “unconstitutional”. Chief Minister Yeddyurappa hence has no right to continue in office in the light of the severe stricture passed by the Supreme Court of India. “ The meeting was attended by Shri Deve Gowda, State JDS President and former Karnataka Chief Minister Shri H D Kumaraswamy, JD (S) Secretary General Kunwar Danish Ali, CPI (M) General Secretary Shri Prakash Karat, Shri Yechury, CPI General Secretary Shri A.B Bardhan, CPI Secretary and Leader of the party in Rajya Sabha Shri D. Raja, Rashtriya Lok Dal President Shri Ajit Singh and Forward Bloc General Secretary Shri Debabrata Biswas.Asked whether the leaders wanted dismissal of the BJP Government in Karnataka and imposition of President’s Rule in the state, Shri Bardhan referred to Shri Deve Gowda’s statement in this regard to the effect that if the BJP has majority in the Assembly as claimed by them, let them elect a new Speaker and a new Chief Minister. Declining to comment either on state Governor Sh H R Bhardwaj’s recommendation for President’s Rule or the Congress stand on the same, Sh Gowda said their view was confined to the apex court’s indictment in the light of which “neither the Speaker nor the Chief Minister can continue in office”. However, Mr Karat added that, “in some exceptional cases, we (Left) have supported President’s Rule.”