Karnataka CM Yediyurappa fulfills promise, 16 out of 17 rebel MLAs inducted to BJP

After the Supreme Court allowed the disqualified MLAs from Karnataka to contest in the upcoming by-elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) inducted 16 of the 17 legislators into the party on Thursday, November 14.

The Supreme Court upheld the former Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar's decision over the disqualification of the rebels from Congress and JD(S) which paved way for the saffron party in the state. Kumar had barred the MLAs from contesting the polls under Anti-Defection law but the SC stated that the Speaker cannot disqualify an MLA until the end of assembly's term.

14 rebel MLAs, including Ramesh Jarkiholi, ST Someshekhar, Shivaram Hebbar, R Roshan Baig, MTB Nagaraj, Pratap Gouda Patil, BC Patil, Anand Singh, Muniratna, K Sudhakar, Shrimant Patil, Mahesh Kumatahalli, Byrati Basavraj and R Shankar had resigned from the Congress and 3 MLAs from JD(S) - Narayana Gowda, AH Vishwanath and Gopalaiah.

Except for Roshan Baig, all others have been inducted to the party on Thursday in an event held outside the BJP office in Malleshwaram in the presence of Yediyurappa BJP state chief Nalin Kateel. BJP is still concerned about Baig, who is an accused in the multi-crore I Monetary Advisory (IMA) Ponzi scam, which is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

'BJP will keep its promise'

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said that the party will keep its promise and the rebel MLAs will be made BJP candidates for the upcoming by-elections which will be held on December 5 and that BJP will hold a mega event after by-election results to felicitate disqualified MLAs. Yediyurappa said that the rebel legislators are the future of the party as they will become MLAs and ministers. 

A confident Yediyurappa also said that the saffron party will win all 15 seats of Karnataka Assembly Constituencies in the upcoming elections. BJP is finalising candidates for the upcoming elections and is expected to release the final list of candidates by Thursday. The newly-inducted BJP leaders to visit their constituencies today to prepare upcoming elections.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka, Sanjeev Kumar had earlier said that the Model Code of Conduct will come into effect from November 11 and counting of votes will be held on December 9.