BENGALURU: BJP on Friday accused Chief Minister DK Shivakumar of forcing Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti to tender his resignation immediately, even though he had offered to resign on August 14.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Horatti, LoP in the Assembly R Ashoka said the Congress leaders went to the Chairman’s office in Vidhana Soudha, got his resignation letter typed and forced him to sign it. “In the history of the Legislative Council, no one was insulted like this,” he said.
Chief Whip of the Opposition in Legislative Council N Ravi Kumar alleged that the CM ordered Horatti’s private secretary to bring the letterhead and forcibly obtained his signature.
“This is nothing but atrocity and fraud perpetrated by Congress members on a Constitutional functionary,” Ravi Kumar alleged. The BJP leader said the party will not take this lightly and they will not allow the House to function till the CM tenders an unqualified apology on the floor of the House.
Former Law Minister and BJP MLA Suresh Kumar said the manner in which the CM, KPCC president BK Hariprasad and over 20 other leaders went to the Council Chairman’s office and forced him to resign was a black spot in the Council’s history. The manner in which the Congress leaders behaved with the Chairman and forcibly took his resignation was like a guerrilla operation, he said.
Former CM and Haveri MP Basavaraj Bommai alleged that the way the Congress government acted to remove Horatti from the post of Chairman does not conform to any healthy traditions. He stated that this is an insult to the dignity of the Chairman’s chair and the Constitution.
Gayathri Shanthegowda takes oath as MLC
Chikkamaagluru: AV Gayathri Shanthegowda took oath as MLC at the Legislative Council Hall in Bengaluru on Friday after the Supreme Court declared her elected from the Chikkamagaluru Local Authorities’ Constituency on July 16.
Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti administered her oath in the presence of CM DK Shivakumar and others. The SC set aside the election of BJP MLC MK Pranesh and declared Gayathri as the duly elected member, allowing her appeal against a Karnataka High Court judgment that had upheld Pranesh’s victory.
The dispute arose from the 2021 MLC polls, in which Pranesh was declared elected by a margin of six votes. Gayathri challenged the result, alleging improper rejection and acceptance of ballot papers, irregularities in coun-ting, and violations of election rules.