Bangalore, May 18 (IANS) Karnataka legislative assembly Speaker K.G. Bopaiah would continue in the post for the next two years of the term irrespective of the Supreme Court strictures on him for disqualifying 16 lawmakers ahead of last year's trust vote, Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa asserted Wednesday.

 
 “There is no need to change the speaker. He (Bopaiah) will continue in the post and complete the remaining two years of the assembly's five-year term,” Yeddyurappa told reporters after meeting Governor H.R. Bhardwaj at Raj Bhavan over tea for the first time amid hectic political developments since Sunday.
 
 Asked about the continuation of the speaker in light of the strictures passed by the Supreme Court May 13 in the disqualification case, state Law and Parliamentary Minister Suresh Kumar said the speaker (Bopaiah) did what he had to do in his capacity as a quasi-judicial officer.
 
 Restoring the membership of 16 legislators, including 11 of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and five independents who were disqualified by the speaker Oct 10, 2010, a division bench of the apex court headed by Justice Altamus Kabir and Justice Cyriac Joseph held that “extraneous considerations were writ large on the face of the order of the speaker and the same had to be set aside”.
 
 “The speaker in collusion with the chief minister had distorted the character and composition of the state legislative assembly for extraneous reasons Oct 10, 2010 by disqualifying 16 legislators just before the crucial floor test the following day (Oct 11),” the bench observed in its judgment.
 
 In his special report to the central government late Sunday, Bhardwaj had extensively quoted from the apex court's judgment in support of his recommendation to invoke Article 356 of the Constitution and impose President's rule in the state, as there was a breakdown of the constitutional mechanism on the day the confidence motion was taken up in the assembly Oct 11, 2010.
 
 “The actions of distorting the character of the assembly were resorted to by the chief minister and the speaker, as noted by the Supreme Court in its (May 13) judgment, to enable the floor test to succeed,” Bhardwaj asserted.