NEW DELHI/BANGALORE, 21 November 2007 — Karnataka was yesterday placed under president’s rule again, less than a fortnight after it was revoked, with President Pratibha Patil signing the decree after the Union Cabinet recommended it.
People in the state capital greeted the announcement with relief, while politicians there went into separate huddles.
The government will bring a resolution before Parliament today to ratify president’s rule and then seek dissolution of the state assembly, which means Karnataka is heading for early polls.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi reporters yesterday evening: “I have learned that President Pratibha Patil has signed the proclamation imposing president’s rule in Karnataka.
“Tomorrow we are going to bring in Parliament a resolution seeking to ratify president’s rule in the state and immediately thereafter the government will go for dissolution of the state assembly,” he said.
Meanwhile, Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) chief H.D. Deve Gowda, whose party’s machinations led to the political upheaval in Karnataka, yesterday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the re-imposition of president’s rule and prospects of dissolution of the state assembly.
The former prime minister told newspersons here: “The BJP did not cooperate with us.”
However, the Congress party welcomed the move to dissolve the assembly.
Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said that the central government, the Congress and even “some United Progressive Alliance partners” were of the view that the state assembly should be dissolved. “We wanted to ensure that no charge of impropriety is leveled against us.” Welcoming president’s rule, he said: “Right from the beginning the BJP was aware of the 12-point demands’ charter put up by the JD-S (in order to support a BJP-led government), and yet they descended in full force in Bangalore and anointed B.S. Yeddyurappa (as chief minister), all because of their lust for power.”
In Bangalore, JD-S legislators met in separate groups Tuesday to assess the fallout of the party’s decision to pull down the BJP-led government, while angry BJP leaders spent the day charting plans to capitalize on possible public sympathy.
The majority of the 51 JD-S legislators had been opposed to pulling down the government as they did not want early polls.
They obeyed the Gowdas under the impression that a Congress-JD-S coalition was going to come to power, and were shocked to hear the centre had decided to recommend dissolution of the assembly.
