BENGALURU: The morning session of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly ended in a ruckus after BJP MLA Araga Jnanendra moved a breach of privilege motion against suspended Congress MLA BK Sangamesh. Alleging that the Bhadravathi MLA — who took off his shirt inside the House in protest — had insulted the legislature and the Speaker’s chair, Jnanendra sought the action.
Congress erupted in protest against the motion, with Siddaramaiah leading his MLAs into the well of the House. Amid loud sloganeering by the Congress, Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri pressed on Jnanendra to finish his preliminary submission. Following the chaos, Kageri sent the motion to the Privileges Committee without debating it in the House, insisting that the Congress was not providing a conducive environment for debate.
“Since you are unwilling to debate anything, I will send this directly to the committee that will look into the indecent, irresponsible behaviour of the MLA who also insulted the Speaker’s chair,” Kageri said.
The Congress contended that the motion was being passed in the absence of Sangamesh, who has been suspended for a week. When Jnanendra was allowed to make his preliminary submission and called Sangamesh’s protest indecent, Congress took to protest. Meanwhile, Congress MLAs demanded that the sleaze tapes purportedly involving BJP MLAs were indecent, and they needed to be debated. An agitated Kageri chided the Opposition for continuously stalling business and adjourned the House till post-lunch.