BELAGAVI: Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Hotatti on Wednesday suspended 14 Congress MLCs for a day for staging a protest in the well of the Council and later adjourned the House for the day.
Earlier, Congress Chief Whip M Narayanaswamy moved a motion, demanding the resignation of Urban Development Minister Byrathi Basavaraj. It is alleged that Byrathi Basavaraj and BJP MLC R Shankar created fake documents and purchased over 35 acres of land in Kalkere village of Bengaluru East taluk in 2003. The landowner approached a court, which ordered the filing of criminal cases against the two leaders.
Extending support to Narayanaswamy's motion, Leader of the Opposition SR Patil demanded that the minister quit owning moral responsibility. Horatti, however, ruled out any discussion on the issue in the morning session.
Congress members urged the Chairman to reconsider his ruling. When he denied, they staged a protest with placards in the well of the Council. Horatti suspended 14 members of Congress when they did not listen to his repeated pleas.
The suspended members were: SR Patil, Narayanaswamy, CM Ibrahim, BK Hariprasad, Nazeer Ahmed, PR Ramesh, Veena Achaiah, Pratapchandra Shetty, RB Timmapur, Basavaraj Patil Itagi, UB Venkatesh, CM Lingappa, Harish Kumar and Gopalaswamy.
When the members continued to protest in the well for nearly an hour even after their suspension, Horatti adjourned the House for the day. Byrathi Basavaraj, however, said the land was purchased legally and not grabbed.
"There was a dispute among siblings which was cleared before the land was purchased. Now, one of the siblings might have moved court. Narayanaswamy was an MLC when the land was bought. Why didn't he question it at that time? If I am proved guilty, I will quit politics," he added.
Will protest till we get justice: MLC
Later, Narayanaswamy told the media that they will continue to protest till they get justice. He alleged that Byarathi and Shankar grabbed land worth Rs 400 crore. "Court proceedings are over and a criminal case has been ordered against the two leaders. But the speaker was not ready to listen to us and suspended us.”
He said, "The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate ordered the police to register an FIR against five people, including Byrathi and Shankar, in a case connected to forged documents. Byrathi and his relative Shankar conspired and registered 35 acres of land in their name in 2003. They produced a fake owner before the subregistrar and completed registration."
"When it came to the notice of the original owner of the land, Annayyappa, he alerted the tahsildar. He also approached the police to file a complaint against five people, including Basavaraj. But when the police refused, he approached the court in 2003. The court ordered the police to register an FIR," he said.
The police filed a case, and submitted a B report to drop the case. "Objecting to the B report, Annayappa again approached the court. After 17 years, the court directed the police to book the accused under various IPC Sections and asked the police to convert it into a criminal case," he added.