The Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Wednesday witnessed dramatic scenes as members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) threw papers at the Chair, upset over the Speaker’s decision to conduct the proceedings of the House without breaking for lunch, reported PTI. The members also alleged “misuse” of IAS officers for the two-day Bengaluru conclave of Opposition leaders.
Following the incident, 10 BJP MLAs – Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, V Sunil Kumar, R Ashok, Araga Jnanendra, Vedvyas Kamath, Yashpal Suvarna, Arvind Bellad, Devraj Muniraj, Umanath Kotyan and Bharat Shetty — were suspended by the Speaker.
This was amid the BJP’s protest against the Congress government for allegedly deputing IAS officers to welcome leaders of various Opposition parties for the two-day conclave in the capital Bengaluru.
As protests continued in the House, the Congress government passed five Bills. As soon as they were passed, Speaker UT Khader decided to discuss the Budget without breaking for lunch, and asked his deputy Lamani to officiate the proceedings, which infuriated the BJP leaders.
The BJP members went into a huddle for a brief period and then, all of a sudden, threw papers at the Chair and the Deputy Speaker stating that the House cannot be run like this and demanded to know under which rule was the lunch cancelled.
As the BJP MLAs tore up copies of the Bills and threw them at Lamani, who was at the Speaker’s chair, Assembly Marshals surrounded the Chair and tried to protect Lamani.
The Congress MLAs objected to the “unruly” behaviour of BJP MLAs, resulting in chaos. The Deputy Speaker then adjourned the house for the later part of the day.
Meanwhile, Opposition BJP and JD(S) gave no-confidence notice against Karnataka Assembly Speaker U T Khader to Assembly Secretary.
‘Black day for democracy’: B Bommai
Speaking about the suspension of 10 BJP MLAs, former Karnataka Chief Minister and BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai said that it was a “black day” for democracy.
“There was a murder of democracy today. They (10 BJP MLAs) have been suspended for their small agitation. We will fight for the right of the suspended MLAs,” he said.
“We have issued a no-confidence motion against the speaker. We will take this fight to the people.” he added.
Meanwhile, following the ruckus, Karnataka BJP MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal fell unconscious outside the Assembly and was taken to the hospital.