SC witnesses high-voltage hearing on Karnataka crisis

The high-voltage hearing on the Karnataka crisis in the Supreme Court today witnessed trading of charges between the BJP and the Congress-JD(S) combine with both claiming to have numbers in their favour.

The combine alleged that Governor Vajubhai Vala was not correct in inviting the BJP, which had lesser numbers than the Congress-JD(S) alliance.

However, the BJP contended that the letter given by rivals on the support of MLAs can be disputed.

At the outset, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the BJP and Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, said there is no requirement to give names of MLAs supporting the party to the Governor and the leader of the party is not required to disclose their names.

"It can be done on the floor of the House. According to us we do have the support. It is the discretion of the Governor to swear in the CM of the party whom he feels can provide a stable government in the state," Rohatgi said.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri, S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan said there is no doubt about it but the only question is here is a person who has just staked claim of having majority to the Governor and on the other hand there is another person who has staked the claim of majority with names of MLAs.

"We have to decide as on what basis the Governor called A over B or B over A," the bench said and at the later part of the hearing added, "There were precedents where courts have orders floor test in 24 or 48 hours".

While the BJP sought time till Monday for the floor test, the