Senior Congress leader and former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar asked Speaker Vishweswara Hegde Kageri to suspend Congress members from the House for staging a dharna in the well of the Legislative Assembly for the third consecutive day seeking resignation of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa.
Congress members, who resorted to a night-long dharna in the House, did not allow proceedings of the Assembly by staging a protest seeking resignation of Mr. Eshwarappa for his remark that the saffron flag could in future replace the tricolour on Red Fort.
With Congress refusing to end the protest despite appeals from the Speaker and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Mr. Ramesh Kumar suggested to Mr. Kageri to suspend protesting members from the House. JD(S) leader and former Minister H D Revanna too seconded Mr. Ramesh Kumar's proposal.
Mr. Kageri asked Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah, who led the protest, to give in writing to suspend party members for staging the protest and curtailing the rights of JD(S) and BJP members, and preventing them from speaking on the Governor's address to the House.
Intervening on the matter, Mr. Bommai said, “On how many occasions has Mr. Ramesh Kumar suspended members when he was the Speaker of the House?”
Mr. Bommai said instead of raising issues and problems faced by the public, Congress members staged protest without any valid reason. He insisted that Mr. Eshwarappa had done nothing wrong and added that the protest would not benefit the Congress in the coming elections.
Law and Parliamentary Minister J.C. Madhuswamy condemned the protest and said the Congress not only damaged the reputation of parliamentary democracy but also insulted the Speaker by disobeying his ruling on the adjournment motion seeking resignation of Mr. Eshwarappa. The Speaker rejected the motion moved by the Congress.
The Speaker asked Congress members to stage protest outside the House to settle political scores and appealed them to cooperate with him in conducting business in the House. The House, which conducted question hour and other proceedings amidst sloganeering by Congress, was adjourned to February 21.
No business could be transacted in the Council as the House witnessed verbal spats between the ruling BJP member and principal opposition Congress on the issue of Mr. Eshwarappa’s resignation.
Amid sloganeering by the Congress, Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti took up Question Hour. However, Agriculture Minister B.C. Patil’s reply to a question by Janata Dal (Secular) member K.A. Thippeswamy could not be heard. While the House was adjourned for a while, the din continued when it reassembled.
BJP members took objection to an earlier statement of Congress member Saleem Ahmed against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and State Home Minister Araga Jnanendra, leading to a verbal spat.
Mr. Horatti said, “The members should avoid speaking against those who are not present in the House.” He expunged remarks by Mr. Ahmed.
The JD(S) members took exception to the situation where BJP and Congress members were raising slogans. While BJP members were heard raising Jai Shri Ram slogans and accusing Congress of being ‘anti-Hindu’, Congress members held placards and continued their dharna in the well while raising slogans against the government.
