Even as the Congress is mounting pressure on the Centre to act against the BJP government in Karnataka against the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s judgement, the Union government is treading cautiously keeping in mind a possible political consequences. The Congress has yet to take a political call whether or not to face the

Assembly elections with the JD(S). Though, it has realised that the BJP government has enough numbers to prove a majority on the floor, the Congress’s strategy is to discredit the Yeddyurappa government saying it is illegal. A day after Karnataka governor H.R. Bhardwaj’s recommendation for imposition of the President’s Rule in the state, the Congress on Monday dubbed the BJP dispensation there as illegal and “based on a manufactured majority”.
“Do they have moral right to continue even for a single moment after the very pungent observations from the Supreme Court,” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters in reply to a volley of questions on the political developments in Karnataka. Quoting some of the strictures by the apex court, Mr Tewari insisted that “after October 11, 2010, it is an illegal government in Karnataka based on a manufactured majority through abuse of the Constitutional office”. Asked whether the Congress was for imposition of President’s Rule and whether it favoured a floor test to judge the majority of chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Mr Tewari’s refrain was, “What has to be done has to be decided by the Central government.” When told that the Karnataka unit of Congress was for imposition of President’s Rule, he said “in our system, there is autonomy and flexibility” to state units to articulate their views.
But the Centre appears to be in no hurry to act on the recommendation of governor H.R. Bhardwaj for imposition of President’s Rule.
Official sources said the home ministry has received the governor’s report and due process will be followed by the government to examine the recommendation. Indicating that there is no urgency to act on the governor’s report, a senior official said: “The governor has sent the report in a hurry. There is a sense in the government that Bhardwaj has exceeded his brief.” Official sources said that the MHA is looking into the details on what ground the governor recommended imposition of President’s rule. Nothing is going to happen soon, they said. A note is expected to be prepared to be put before the Union Cabinet in due course, the sources said.
Sources indicated that the governor’s move is an outcome of a possible personality clash between the CM and the governor since the report has been sent to the Centre just two days after the Supreme Court verdict.
The governor, who has a troubled relationship with the Karnataka Government, has sent a “special” report to the Centre on Sunday recommending a spell of President’s Rule.

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Jaitley: SC order has weakened 10th Schedule
AGE CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi

May 16: The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Arun Jaitley, is of the view that the recent Supreme Court judgement quashing disqualification of 11 BJP MLAs has “weakened” some provisions of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution or the anti-defection law. The senior BJP leader said the judgement is “erroneous” as it is based on the premise that the rebel MLAs only wanted to replace chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and did not want the government to fall.