BENGALURU: The legislative Assembly witnessed ugly scenes on Wednesday as 10 BJP MLAs were suspended for creating a ruckus over state government deputing IAS officers to receive politicians from other states on their arrival in Bengaluru to take part in the opposition parties’ conclave.
While the issue rocked both Houses, the suspended MLAs were bundled out of the Assembly by marshals as BJP and JDS MLAs protested after the speaker’s order.
MLAs CN Ashwath Narayan, Sunil Kumar, R Ashoka, Araga Jnanendra, Vedavyas Kamath, Yashpal Suvarna, Dheeraj Muniraj, Umanath Kotian, Aravind Bellad and Bharath Shetty were suspended for tearing the copies of Bills and throwing them at the speaker’s chair. The 10 MLAs have been barred from attending the session which ends on Friday.
Following this, BJP and JDS MLAs sought the Assembly secretary’s permission to move a motion for the removal of the speaker. Former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, Munirathna and other senior BJP MLAs, who staged a protest in the House, were also forcibly sent out.
As they continued their protest at the lobby, JDS Legislature Party leader and former CM HD Kumaraswamy joined them. In the meantime, Yatnal felt uneasy and collapsed. He was immediately rushed to the hospital.
Issue notices to IAS officers: Bommai
BJP MLAs have decided to meet the governor on Thursday to complain about the “undemocratic action” of the Congress government. It all started when BJP’s Ashoka raised the issue of deputing 30 IAS officers to receive leaders of political parties, some of them out on bail, who arrived in the city to attend the conclave.
Law Minister HK Patil defended the government’s action stating that it did not violate any protocol and alleged that BJP MLAs were unable to digest the success of the conclave. Irked by this, BJP MLAs entered the well of the House while Sunil Kumar questioned UT Khader whether it was right on his part as the speaker to attend the dinner hosted during the conclave.
CM Siddaramaiah questioned why didn’t BJP members protest when Kumaraswamy deputed IAS officers for his swearing-in ceremony as CM in 2018. Kumaraswamy, however, defended it stating that it was a government event, unlike Tuesday’s political conclave. JDS MLAs too entered the well of the House. Bommai said, “It’s unfortunate that IAS officers were deputed to receive leaders of some small parties, who are not even MLAs.” Blaming the chief secretary for this, he demanded that notices be issued to the IAS officers, besides deducting their salaries.
As chaos prevailed in the House with BJP and JDS MLAs continuing their protest, Khader said he would not give a lunch break and continued the debate on the budget. As he left the chair and deputy speaker Rudrappa Lamani took over, BJP members accused him of violating rules by continuing the proceedings when the House was not in order. BJP members started tearing the copies of Bills that were kept on the table and threw them at the deputy speaker, who summoned the marshals to send the unruly MLAs out of the House.
“Throwing papers at the chair is a painful development,” the CM said and alleged that the BJP MLAs were doing it just to please “Keshava Krupa”. Bommai termed it a “Black Day” and accused the speaker of acting like a puppet of the government. Even in Council, BJP members protested prompting adjournment. Floor leader NS Boseraju defended the government’s move. As BJP members continued their protest, the House was adjourned.