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'K'taka governor has made mockery of Constitution'
Law Minister Suresh Kumar has this to say: "The national leadership of our party will meet sometime between 10 am and 11 am to discuss this issue. Our legislature party leadership too will meet to discuss the same issue and the outcome of both these meetings would lay down the ground work for our next course of action."
"The actions of the governor has only made a mockery of the Constitution. This battle is not just a battle of the BJP, but of all parties which beleive in democracy. Such actions will affect the course of democracy and I feel not only the BJP, but even the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular should question such actions."
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'Is there a constitutional breakdown in K'taka?'
"The entire nation knows that the BJP in Karnataka enjoys a majority. It is really sad that such a recommendation had to be issued, especially by a man who has been such a long serving law minister in the union government."
"I would not be in a position to comment on the immediate next course of action, but we would do everything that it takes to fight this issue. I personally feel that the Union government will not act on the recommendation. They will tread with caution since if they act the repurcussions will be bad and it will set a horrible precedent."
'We can even approach the Supreme Court'
"We will wait for the national leadership to meet. There is no decision on whether to parade our MLAs before the President of India. We will do everything that it takes and could even approach the Supreme Court if the recommendation of the governor is acted upon. There are many judgments to support our cause. The S R Bommai judgment is one of them."
[The SR Bommai vs Centre case: The judgment, delivered by the Supreme Court on May 11, 1994, defined the use of Article 356 and imposition of President's rule. When the then Congress government at the Centre dismissed the S R Bommai government in Karnataka in 1989, Bommai challenged the dismissal.
In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court held that a state government could be dismissed only under extenuating circumstances, and laid down guidelines for such a dismissal.
Though political parties have flouted the Supreme Court norms, the Bommai case has made dismissing state governments and imposing President's rule a little more difficult.]
'It is nothing but personal vendetta'
"It is nothing but personal vendetta and we will tide over the crisis without a doubt. I call on both the Congress and the JD(S) also to fight against the arbitrary action of the governor as such actions leads to a precedent which will affect every political party in the future," he said.
Onkar Singh adds from New Delhi
Bhartiya Janata Party leaders are meeting at the residence of L K Advani at 11 am to discuss the developments in Karnataka following the governor's recommendation.
'The governor cannot have his own interpretation of the law'
Fali Nariman, constitutional expert and former member of Rajya Sabha, has slammed governor for recommending governor's rule in the state based on a judgement of the Supreme Court.
"The governor cannot have his own interpretation of the law. The best course open for him is to ask the state chief minister to prove the majority on the floor of the House. If does not do that and tries to do something more then he is bound to fall flat on his face," Nariman told rediff.com on Monday.
S S Ahluwalia, deputy leader of the BJP in Rajya Sabha, said that the recommendation of president's rule is unconstitutional and bad in law after the state cabinet had written to him to call assembly session on May 16 to prove majority on the floor of the house.