BENGALURU: A day before meeting the Speaker in response to a notice, the four Congress rebels sought legal opinion on Monday. Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar had served a notice and asked the four MLAs – Umesh Jadhav (who has quit the party and since joined BJP), Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumtalli and B Nagendra – to appear before him on Tuesday.
The notice comes following a petition filed by Congress leader Siddaramaiah to disqualify all the four. Jadhav resigned as Chincholi MLA, four days ago, but his resignation has still not been accepted by the Speaker. The Speaker is expected to inquire into issues raised against them by Siddaramaiah.
Siddaramaiah’s case against the rebels is that they did not present themselves when summoned for the Congress Legislature Party. They had, however, sent a letter excusing themselves. When a senior parliamentarian was asked about what could happen on Tuesday, he said on the condition of anonymity, “The Speaker will have to hear them exhaustively. The Speaker could post the matter to another date if needed and give them time.’’A former minister said, “They could seek the services of an advocate during the hearing in the Speaker’s chamber. It is up to the Speaker to allow that.”