Disruptions, pandemonium mar proceedings in Assembly, Minister Karjol faces the heat

Belagavi: Repeated disruptions and pandemonium affected the proceedings in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, as opposition Congress created a ruckus by staging a protest from the well of the House, demanding that Minister Govind Karjol express regret for his alleged “arrogant” remarks against one of the party’s MLAs.

The House saw a politically charged atmosphere, and also witnessed a situation where Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy threatened to move a resolution seeking suspension of another Congress MLA from the proceedings for her “certain conduct”.

However, things cooled down slightly post lunch with both sides ending the stalemate that engulfed the proceedings during the first half of the day, and deciding to go ahead with the day’s proceedings. The issue started during the Question Hour when members from both Congress and JD(S) barged into the well of the House, not satisfied with Transport Minister B Sriramulu’s response to a question on issues faced by students due to shortage of government buses in several parts of the state.

After this, the Transport Minister gave an assurance to the House that he will convene a division-wise meeting of legislators before the session ends to resolve the issue caused by shortage of buses, and also a separate half-an-hour discussion will be held on the matter in the assembly, following which all other members returned to their seats.

However, Congress MLA from Kunigal H D Ranganath remained in the well of the House as a mark of protest, even as the next question was taken up. Minister Karjol, in a raised voice, told Ranganath to walk away from the well noting that it was not the practice. Karjol was joined by Madhuswamy, who also asked him to walk away from the well in an assertive way.

Agitated by the conduct of the two ministers, Congress members barged into the well of the House, targeting ruling BJP benches. “Why are you shouting against the member, it is his right,” Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah hit back at the ministers. This resulted in a heated exchange. Angered by this, Karjol urged the Speaker, “Suspend and send them (Congress MLAs) out of this House. This is not the practice. Are you playing games?”

This further aggravated the situation, resulted in heated arguments and some personal exchange too happened between Karjol and a couple of Congress MLAs. Following this, both sides accused each other of indulging in “goondaism”, resulting in a melee, prompting BJP MLA Kumar Bangarappa, who was officiating the proceedings from the Speaker’s Chair, to adjourn the house for some time.

The meeting held by Bangarappa in between calling leaders from both sides to resolve the situation failed, and when the Assembly proceedings resumed, Congress members continued to protest from the well of the House. Madhuswamy said he has spoken to the Leader of Opposition and requested the opposition side not to precipitate the issue further and cooperate in conducting the business of the House. Bangarappa too appealed to cooperate in continuing with the business of the House.

However, Siddaramaiah said the government side has the responsibility to run the House and ministers should have patience and behave respectfully with all legislators, as they too are elected. Stating that Minister Karjol has to withdraw the statements that he has made, Siddaramaiah made it clear that the Congress will withdraw the protest only if the former expresses regret.

However, both sides were sticking to their stand and the deadlock continued. Another flashpoint came when Madhuswamy, tried to request for smooth functioning of the House. Intervening, Anjali Nimbalkar made certain remarks from the well, to which the minister hit back saying “Don’t speak like this standing in the well. You can’t do it,