Cong wants Central rule in Karnataka

In a memorandum submitted to the Governor, the Congress pointed out that Patel’s contention that the Legislature was redundant since there was no business to transact was “astounding”, it said.

The Congress observed that the circumstances leading to the Chief Minister recommending dissolution clearly established the ulterior motive to remain in power against the possibility of losing the majority.

The Janata Dal had 105 members of the Legislative Assembly excluding a few associate members. With the split in the party and change of president, around 40 MLAs had left Patel, the Congressargued.

`The power of dissolution is based on political expediency as observed in the S R Bommai and other cases. It is our argument that all ramifications of this expediency should have been considered by your office before taking the hasty decision of accepting the Cabinet’s recommendations”.

The memorandum also said, “You may or may not have been correct in your decision constitutionally but by ignoring both the motives and the modus operandi of the CM, you have unfortunately allowed political trickery to gain the upper hand”. The Congress leaders also said, “You could have returned the advice of the Cabinet for reconsideration rather than accept it in the normal course”.