Senior BJP MLA K G Bopaiah, who as the speaker of the Karnataka Assembly had disqualified 16 MLAs and bailed out the B S Yeddyurappa government ahead of a no-confidence vote in 2010, was today appointed the pro-tem speaker to conduct the crucial floor test tomorrow.
The appointment riled the Congress, which is likely to move the Supreme Court against it.
The Yeddyurappa government is set to face the floor test at 4 pm as directed by the Supreme Court today.
A four-time MLA, Bopaiah was the Karnataka Assembly speaker from 2009 to 2013.
Hitting out at Governor Vajubhai Vala for the decision, the Congress called him an "agent" of the BJP, and noted that R V Deshpande of the Congress, the senior-most member of the House, should have been appointed in Bopaiah's place.
The governor appointed Bopaiah "as the person before whom a member of the legislative assembly shall, before taking his seat, make and subscribe an oath or affirmation."
He said, "Also Supreme Court had passed structures (sic) against the conduct of KG Bopiah as Speaker. Sad to see Vajubhai Valaji behaving like an agent of BJP."
Its chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, He is the same Bopaiah who had disqualified those BJP MLAs who had exposed corruption of Yeddyurappa... The Supreme Court bench had said he did not believe in the Constitution, democracy. The SC had dismissed his orders (as speaker) with stinging strictures."
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