EDITORIAL : THE INDIAN EXPRESS, INDIA

 

 

Trust in law

 

Last week’s decision by the Supreme Court to overrule the Karnataka high court and reinstate 16 members of the Karnataka legislative assembly was a spark for the current, many-sided confrontation between the BJP, the Congress, the JD (S) and the state governor, H.R. Bhardwaj. The implications of the judgment for the anti-defection law, however, also need close examination and discussion. Ever since the anti-defection law was first passed in 1985 and subsequently strengthened, many of its provisions have been open to multiple readings — and many speakers have interpreted them to suit their parties’ purpose. Now the court has brought clarity to many points.

In this case there were several questions at stake. When, in a highly controversial decision in October 2010, the speaker of the Karnataka assembly disqualified 11 BJP MLAs and five independent MLAs — enabling the Yeddyurappa government to survive a trust vote — was there a proper process that he needed to follow? Does writing to the governor and asking for a change of CM constitute abandoning your party? Does an independent MLA who takes a ministerial berth give up his “independent” status and become part of the party he is supporting and has received his cabinet post from? The high court had gone with the speaker’s view on most of these issues; the Supreme Court has answered those questions differently. The Karnataka speaker, in particular, came in for some pointed criticism from the judges: relying on news reports is not enough, they said, the MLAs should have been permitted to speak for themselves.

Friends with benefits

 

Unlike West Bengal, the Tamil Nadu election results were not a foregone conclusion. Jayalalithaa’s victory is even more impressive for being less talked-up, a consequence of patient strategising and playing to the strengths of her alliance. In the last decade of the DMK’s dominion, she seemed to be retreating from the scene — she moved away from Chennai, she hardly attended the assembly, she rarely made her presence publicly felt. However, the strength of her recent rallies in Madurai and Coimbatore in the last few months should have been an indication of Jayalalithaa’s clear return to favour.

This also unlocks many new political possibilities, as was made abundantly clear at Jayalalithaa’s swearing-in ceremony — attended by the unlikely crew of A.B. Bardhan and D. Raja, N. Chandrababu Naidu and Narendra Modi. The Congress has also made congratulatory noises. For years now, one or the other ruling party in the state has bolstered the national alliance. In the last decade, the DMK had raised this mutual backscratching to an art, using its support to the Congress at the Centre to enlarge its aura in the state. Jayalalithaa does not have as competent a party machine, but she has also been a consummate coalition operator. She remains a coveted partner despite her erratic history — the BJP had a scarring experience with Jayalalithaa in 1998-99, when she kept them on tenterhooks and eventually walked out of the government a year later, causing it to collapse. She has been hostile to the Congress as well, making her antipathy to Sonia Gandhi only too obvious. In recent years, as the DMK-Congress alliance solidified for their mutual convenience, the AIADMK was seen as an essential component of an emergent Third Front. However, she has offered support to the Congress after the 2G scam if it threw over the DMK, just as she has been conspicuously friendly to the BJP.