MANGALURU: Strongly defending his decision to suspend the 18 MLAs for creating a ruckus in the recently concluded assembly session, Assembly Speaker UT Khader said that he will not hesitate to initiate harsher punishment including dismissal of MLAs who are 'habitual offenders'.
Talking to reporters, Khader said the suspended MLAs thought that they could get away by creating a ruckus since it was the last day of the session.
He added that a few of the first time MLAs were not even aware of the gravity of the situation.
Stating that the suspended MLAs are his friends, he asked them to not consider the suspension as punishment but an opportunity to transform themselves into good public representatives and mend their ways.
“Those who have committed wrong should realise it. They should watch their act sitting in front of the TV,” he said.
Khader maintained that none including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had a role to play in his decision to suspend the MLAs .
He stated that the decision was necessary to uphold the dignity of the House, the Chair, the Constitution and the honour of the state.
Responding to the Opposition leaders criticising his decision in the past that the Speakers not being so harsh in punishing the MLAs even when the House witnessed more ugly scenes, Khader said that if the past Speakers had taken a tough decision, such a situation would have not arisen.
“They had no courage to take the tough decision. I had the courage and hence I took the decision,” he said in an apparent jibe at Belagavi MP and former speaker Jagadish Shettar.
Further, Khader said that someone had to put an end to such insults to the Chair which depicts the state of Karnataka in poor light. He said that his decision will set a precedent in the country and has brought honour to the state.
Stating that dissent is the beauty of democracy, Khader said that there was no need for such a protest even after the chief minister assured to conduct a probe into the allegations of a honey trap and also consider their demands for a CBI inquiry.
“They intended to block the passage of the finance bill. If the bill was not passed on the last day of the session, then the state would have not been able to spend even a pie affecting the disbursement of salaries and developmental works. My main aim was to ensure the passage of the bill. Being a speaker I can't tolerate dishonour to the Constitutional post,” he said.
To a query, the Speaker said the people of the state will decide whether his decision was right or wrong.
The Speaker also said the works on the permanent illumination of the magnificent Vidhana Soudha building is complete and it will be inaugurated by CM Siddaramaiah in the first week of April.
Vidhana Soudha will be illuminated on every Saturday and Sunday 6 pm to 9 pm. Hitherto, he said it was illuminated on special occasions like national festivals and it used to cost Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.