BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s remarks that they will not tolerate the Opposition’s ‘goondagiri’ sparked a heated exchange between the Ruling and Opposition members in the Legislative Council on Thursday.
Irked by BJP members trying to disrupt his response to a question on the devolution of taxes and the Central grants, Siddaramaiah said they will not tolerate ‘goondagiri’ by the Opposition members and he will continue to speak the truth. It all started after the BJP took objection to the CM’s tirade against the Centre while he was responding to Congress MLC UB Venkatesh’s question on tax devolution.
Siddaramaiah said that the people of the state must know the facts on disparity in the devolution of funds. The CM said the state has been treated unfairly in the 15th Finance Commission as the tax share of the state was reduced to 3.6% from 4.71% in the 14th Finance Commission. Funds were not given to the state even after the Finance Commission’s recommendation, he claimed.
The BJP and JDS members took objection to the CM’s remarks and demanded him to tender an apology for calling the Opposition members ‘goondas.’ Members from the Opposition and Ruling parties were engaged in a heated exchange and the House was adjourned for a while.
The issue continued even after the House reconvened. Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti announced that he had expunged the CM’s remarks and requested the members to cooperate with the House proceedings.
However, Leader of the Opposition in the Council Kota Shrinivas Poojary, Opposition Chief Whip N Ravi Kumar and other BJP and JDS members insisted that the CM’s remarks set a bad precedent in the Council and that he must apologise for the same and walked out of the House. Speaking to reporters, Poojary said the CM called opposition members as goondas. For the first time, the CM of the state used such words against Opposition members, he added.
Applications for BPL, APL cards to be issued from April 1
The government will start issuing applications for new APL and BPL cards from April 1, said Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa. He was replying to Congress MLA Nayana Motamma from the Mudigere Assembly segment, where she said several beneficiaries saw their BPL cards getting cancelled. Muniyappa, who assured to verify the matter, said the previous BJP government had 2.95 lakh applications pending. “We are verifying it and cards will be issued. So far, we have issued 57,000 cards,” he said.