BENGALURU: The Opposition BJP accused the State Government and the Ruling party legislators of disrespecting Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot after he addressed the joint session of the state legislature on Thursday. Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, R Ashoka, and LoP in Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, have written to the presiding officers of the Assembly and Council seeking disciplinary action against legislators who disrespected the Governor.
“Today marks one of the darkest days in the history of the Karnataka Legislature. Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot arrived at the Joint Session of the Legislature and discharged his constitutional duty by presenting the Governor’s address, as mandated by the Constitution.
However, Congress legislators behaved in a manner unbecoming of a democratic House by resorting to unruly, street-level conduct that showed blatant disrespect to the Constitution, the office of the Governor, and the dignity of the Legislature itself. By wilfully disrupting the Governor’s address, they trampled upon established conventions, rules, and parliamentary decorum, bringing disrepute to the House,” Ashoka said.
Hitting out at Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil, Ashoka said, “A disgraceful precedent was set by one of the senior-most members of the House and the Law Minister HK Patil. A Law Minister endorsing and participating in such conduct is deeply disturbing.” Patil has forfeited all moral authority to continue in that office even for a moment longer, he said.
The BJP leader slammed Congress MLC BK Haripraad. “His aggressive and unruly behaviour mirrored that of a hooligan, exposing the true political culture of the Congress. The events of today constitute a grave assault on the dignity of Karnataka’s Legislature,” he said taking to social media platform.
Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said the attempt to manhandle the Governor while he was returning after addressing the joint session was not just an act of indiscipline but a direct assault on the Constitution. Some Congress MLCs tried to block his way, raised slogans and also attempted to manhandle him, if the Governor’s security personnel were not present in the House, it would have been a big disaster, he said.
He demanded that criminal cases be registered against the members for their unruly conduct, and they should be immediately suspended from the House. The State Government should take the responsibility for the incident and apologise to the people of the state, he said.