Warning: This is a very longgg post :). Essentially because am documenting the entire K'taka saga that happened this week, before speaking about the Common Wealth Games. Thanks in advance for reading :)
1. The "Nataka in Karnataka" caption lived upto its expectations this week! Not sure who the hero was, but was crystal clear who the villian was. That honour has been bagged by the Governor of the state, His Excellency Hans Raj Bhaadwaj! The Speaker of the assembly disqualified 11 rebel BJP MLA's and also 5 Independent MLA's (and hence strength of Assembly came down to 208, and BJP had 104 MLA's in its fold). He was quoting the Anti Defection Act, but many were of the view that this act can be applied only after the MLA's actually vote in the assembly. However, since the Speaker has decided, the matter can only go into the court. However,our villian decides to take matters into his own hands and shoots of a letter to the Speaker asking him to retain the original configuration of the house! What business he had writing to the speaker, only he knows! Anyways, te D-Day came. On the morning of 11th October, these 16 MLA's barged into the assembly, broke windows, one MLA even tore his shirt and dared policemen/marshals. For the first time, policemen entered the floor of the house and had a scuffle with the MLA's. And since the doors seemed open for all, MLC's MP's etc etc all walked into the house. It was a literal free for all !
And amidst all this confusion, the Speaker declares that the government won the trust vote, by a show of hands! Yep, amidst all this confusion, the Speaker declares that the government wins through a voice vote. And this infuriated the governor even more! Without even waiting for a report from the Speaker, His Excellency H.R.Bharadwaj sent a report to the Central government recommending President's rule !! At a time when all were focussing on the legality of the action of the Speaker, our villian gave the perfect twist, thus hogging the limelight all for himself again. Quite obviously this was a stupid move, evident from the fact that the Central government (whom he wanted to impress in the first place) was not too keen. BJP was in a battle mode now, seeking the Governor's recall citing all his stupid actions.
And then our villian, as is his wont - gave us a new twist! He writes to the Chief Minister the next day (12th Oct) saying he is willing to give him "another chance" to prove his majority on the 14th of October! After recommending that the government be suspended, he now talks about another chance! And what is the legality of this "offer"? Was he advising? Was he ordering? What about his earlier recommendation then? Whatever he writes and recommends has lega connotations, why behave like a school principal? And come to think of it, this guy was the Law Minister of India in UPA 1 ! Why was he in such a hurry? Whom is he trying to appease? Just when we were trying to find answers to these questions, comes the new twist!
His Excellency holds a press conference and starts speaking like the opposition leader of the state! He says there is no development in the state, there is lot of corruption etc! That's right - instead of just talking about the confidence vote (which he had no business talking about,in the first place) he goes on and on about governance, BJP leadership et.al ! H.R.Bharadwaj finally succeeded in proving that he is just a stooge of the High Command of his party, with little or no respect to the dignity of the post of Governor. It is not hi business to comment upon aspects of development, governance etc. The people will get to decide all that - the Governor is just he titular head of the state and has to come into the picture only when there is a constitutional breakdown. Quite evidently, this man doesn't care for such etiquitte.
Anyways, the CM accepted the "offer", and won the floor test with a 106-100 majority. The High Court is yet to rule on the suspension of the 5 Independent MLA's though. Even if the court cancels their disqualification, there is no danger to this government.
The Governor's actions and the attempts by another Excellency H.D.Deve Gowda to cash in on this whole episode aside, this trust vote is a huge eye-opener for BJP. These dissent activities seems to have become a regular happening, thus hampering governance and good will. If no serious attempts are made by the party to address these issues, it sure will take a long time to recover from these losses!
2. All this week, the Commonwealth games fever gripped most of us. Indian sportspersons put up an excellent show this time. After a gap of 52 years, we won a gold in the track events. The women's relay team won the 4x400m gold, another team won he 4x100 bronze medal. India also won the Gold, Silver and Bronze in the women discuss throw event! More than the medals, the stories of almost all the medal winning sportspersons made for very inspiring reading. How children of auto drivers, tribals made it to this place, after going through unbeliavable road blocks is stuff of legend. Men and women from small towns that we have never heard of, heralded a whole new beginning to the sports chapter in the country. We won 38 Gold, 27 Silver and 36 Bronze medals. Each of these 101 winners are the new inspiration for us to aspire for better heights the Asian Games and the London Olympics. Hats off, to the real winners!
And since the games have now ended, time has also come to turn attention to the Corruption Wealth Games! For the record, a commission has been set up to probe everything related to the conducting of the games. It is becoming increasingly clear that Suresh Kalmadi will be made the sole culprit of the whole muck. All other leaders will be let off, and our ever compliant media led by NDTV, has already begun to acquit Sheila Dixit, for starters! And apparently, both the PM and Sonia Gandhi have met only the medal winners and not Suresh Kalmadi, and the media is hailing it as if this is the most exemplary "punishment" meted out ever! So much for accountability, your honour!
1. The "Nataka in Karnataka" caption lived upto its expectations this week! Not sure who the hero was, but was crystal clear who the villian was. That honour has been bagged by the Governor of the state, His Excellency Hans Raj Bhaadwaj! The Speaker of the assembly disqualified 11 rebel BJP MLA's and also 5 Independent MLA's (and hence strength of Assembly came down to 208, and BJP had 104 MLA's in its fold). He was quoting the Anti Defection Act, but many were of the view that this act can be applied only after the MLA's actually vote in the assembly. However, since the Speaker has decided, the matter can only go into the court. However,our villian decides to take matters into his own hands and shoots of a letter to the Speaker asking him to retain the original configuration of the house! What business he had writing to the speaker, only he knows! Anyways, te D-Day came. On the morning of 11th October, these 16 MLA's barged into the assembly, broke windows, one MLA even tore his shirt and dared policemen/marshals. For the first time, policemen entered the floor of the house and had a scuffle with the MLA's. And since the doors seemed open for all, MLC's MP's etc etc all walked into the house. It was a literal free for all !
And amidst all this confusion, the Speaker declares that the government won the trust vote, by a show of hands! Yep, amidst all this confusion, the Speaker declares that the government wins through a voice vote. And this infuriated the governor even more! Without even waiting for a report from the Speaker, His Excellency H.R.Bharadwaj sent a report to the Central government recommending President's rule !! At a time when all were focussing on the legality of the action of the Speaker, our villian gave the perfect twist, thus hogging the limelight all for himself again. Quite obviously this was a stupid move, evident from the fact that the Central government (whom he wanted to impress in the first place) was not too keen. BJP was in a battle mode now, seeking the Governor's recall citing all his stupid actions.
And then our villian, as is his wont - gave us a new twist! He writes to the Chief Minister the next day (12th Oct) saying he is willing to give him "another chance" to prove his majority on the 14th of October! After recommending that the government be suspended, he now talks about another chance! And what is the legality of this "offer"? Was he advising? Was he ordering? What about his earlier recommendation then? Whatever he writes and recommends has lega connotations, why behave like a school principal? And come to think of it, this guy was the Law Minister of India in UPA 1 ! Why was he in such a hurry? Whom is he trying to appease? Just when we were trying to find answers to these questions, comes the new twist!
His Excellency holds a press conference and starts speaking like the opposition leader of the state! He says there is no development in the state, there is lot of corruption etc! That's right - instead of just talking about the confidence vote (which he had no business talking about,in the first place) he goes on and on about governance, BJP leadership et.al ! H.R.Bharadwaj finally succeeded in proving that he is just a stooge of the High Command of his party, with little or no respect to the dignity of the post of Governor. It is not hi business to comment upon aspects of development, governance etc. The people will get to decide all that - the Governor is just he titular head of the state and has to come into the picture only when there is a constitutional breakdown. Quite evidently, this man doesn't care for such etiquitte.
Anyways, the CM accepted the "offer", and won the floor test with a 106-100 majority. The High Court is yet to rule on the suspension of the 5 Independent MLA's though. Even if the court cancels their disqualification, there is no danger to this government.
The Governor's actions and the attempts by another Excellency H.D.Deve Gowda to cash in on this whole episode aside, this trust vote is a huge eye-opener for BJP. These dissent activities seems to have become a regular happening, thus hampering governance and good will. If no serious attempts are made by the party to address these issues, it sure will take a long time to recover from these losses!
2. All this week, the Commonwealth games fever gripped most of us. Indian sportspersons put up an excellent show this time. After a gap of 52 years, we won a gold in the track events. The women's relay team won the 4x400m gold, another team won he 4x100 bronze medal. India also won the Gold, Silver and Bronze in the women discuss throw event! More than the medals, the stories of almost all the medal winning sportspersons made for very inspiring reading. How children of auto drivers, tribals made it to this place, after going through unbeliavable road blocks is stuff of legend. Men and women from small towns that we have never heard of, heralded a whole new beginning to the sports chapter in the country. We won 38 Gold, 27 Silver and 36 Bronze medals. Each of these 101 winners are the new inspiration for us to aspire for better heights the Asian Games and the London Olympics. Hats off, to the real winners!
And since the games have now ended, time has also come to turn attention to the Corruption Wealth Games! For the record, a commission has been set up to probe everything related to the conducting of the games. It is becoming increasingly clear that Suresh Kalmadi will be made the sole culprit of the whole muck. All other leaders will be let off, and our ever compliant media led by NDTV, has already begun to acquit Sheila Dixit, for starters! And apparently, both the PM and Sonia Gandhi have met only the medal winners and not Suresh Kalmadi, and the media is hailing it as if this is the most exemplary "punishment" meted out ever! So much for accountability, your honour!
