'Plea against Kumaraswamy and MLAs won't be taken up'

H D Kumaraswamy and his 38 MLAs could breathe easy with the Karnataka Speaker saying that he will not take up the plea seeking dismissal of the MLAs.

Speaker K R Krishna said there was no meaning in hearing the plea now as the assembly itself would be dissolved.

A petition had been filed by an independent MLAs, seeking the dismissal of Kumaraswamy and 38 other JD(S) MLAs who went ahead and formed the government with the BJP 21 months ago. It was contended that the MLAs had gone against the party high command and formed the government.

The petition quoted heavily out of the letter written by JD(S) supreme H D Deve Gowda to then Governor T N Chathurvedi.

In the letter, Gowda had urged the governor to take action against the MLAs as they had formed the government against the wishes of the party. The petition had come for hearing several times before the Speaker but was adjourned for some reason or the other. Had the speaker allowed the

petition when Kumaraswamy was the chief minister, it would result in the dismissal of 39 MLAs as a result of which the government would have fallen.

Moreover, these MLAs would have been barred from contesting the polls for the next six years.

The Speaker, also a Janata Dal (S) MLA from the K R Pet constituency, said that there was no meaning in taking up this petition as the House would be dissolved. The speaker, however,  expressed regret over the manner in which things had shaped up in the last few months in the state.