BENGALURU: Acting tough on defecting legislators who brought down the 14-month-old JD(S)-Congress government — and, possibly, in a signoff move on his way out — speaker KR Ramesh Kumar disqualified 14 rebel MLAs on Sunday, saying he had made the decision “with responsibility and fear”. The 14 MLAs — 11 of the Congress and three of the JD(S) — cease to be members of the assembly and cannot contest elections till May 2023.The number of disqualified MLAs, along with those barred three days ago, now stands at 17, bringing down the strength of the House (to 208) and the number needed by the Yediyurappa government (105) to win the trust vote on Monday.Karnataka trust vote live : Complete coverageThe official line of condemnation aside, the move brought cheer to the BJP camp for another reason too: The compulsion to reward the rebels doesn’t arise till their disqualification is reversed or suspended and they are allowed to contest byelections by the Supreme Court. “For this to happen, it will take at least six months. Till then, Yediyurappa will be a relieved man. If the courts uphold the speaker’s decision, then it will be relief forever for BJP,” said a senior party leader.At a press conference on the eve of the trust vote, the speaker said he had used his “judicial conscience” to disqualify the rebels for defying the party whip and skipping the floor test of the Kumaraswamy government. TOI had reported on July 27 that the speaker may do so before Monday amid indications that the BJP would bring a no-confidence motion against him.One of the disqualified MLAs, AH Vishwanath of JD (S), said the rebels would move Supreme Court against the decision, since the court had said the rebels could not be compelled to attend the session.The BJP described the decision as “hasty and devoid of natural justice”. “The speaker should have taken the decision after hearing the rebel MLAs. This is a glaring lapse in the speaker’s order. It appears the decision has been taken under pressure,” Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda said. The MLAs had sought four weeks’ time to appear before the speaker and make their case.“It is not right on the part of the speaker to disqualify MLAs despite them submitting their resignations. It’s a dangerous development. I hope the disqualified MLAs will get justice from the court,” said Union minister for parliamentary affairs Pralhad Joshi.Congress and JD(S) hailed the decision as “historic” and said it would go a long way in arresting “immoral political defections”. “Many speakers have given different verdicts on anti-defection law. This one, according to me, is historic,” JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda said.“It’s a victory of democracy. I hope this will put an end to the culture of elected representatives selling themselves for selfish goals against the people’s mandate,” said Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah .Ramesh Kumar said he concluded that rebel MLAs incurred disqualification going by vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu’s judgment on dissidence in political parties, the ruling of the Tamil Nadu speaker with respect to disqualification of 16 AIADMK MLAs, and the Supreme Court verdict in the Ravi Naik versus Union government case.About legal experts claiming disqualified MLAs can contest bypolls, the speaker said, “That is why we have advocates. In this case, I have used my judicial conscience and behaved like a gentleman without bias.” He said he had recorded his observations in detail in his order which would be made public in a day or two.Under the spotlight for the past few weeks, Ramesh Kumar said he was hurt by the allegations that he would help one side or the other in the political turmoil in the state. “I’m deeply hurt by the way I am being pressured to deal with the case (of resignations),” said Kumar, his eyes welling up. “It has pushed me into depression. Probably, this is going to end my political career,” he said.Read this report in Marathi