Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa took objection to the demolition of a partition wall in forest minister B Ramanath Rai’s office in the third floor in Vidhana Soudha and demanded the government restore the demolished wall.
Raising the issue as soon as the Assembly resumed business on Wednesday, Yeddyurappa urged the speaker to give an assurance that such incidents do not recur. “Vidhana Soudha is not minister’s house to demolish and make alterations,” Yeddyurappa said and chided Rai, who also holds environment and ecology department, for razing the wall on the eve of World Environment Day.
Former minister Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri intervened and said that a bill was passed in the previous Assembly restricting alterations of the Vidhana Soudha rooms. Rai said that he had asked for a big room. “But it was occupied by someone else (housing minister M H Ambareesh) by the time I returned from Tirupati. Based on my request, the officials in the department of administrative and personnel reforms allotted a different room and demolished the wall to make it big.”
“I did not ask for any demolition or alterations,” Rai said adding that he needed a big room as he did not own a house in Bangalore. Former deputy chief minister R Ashok demanded action against the officials who were responsible for razing wall.