BJP protests ‘attitude’ of govt; Bommai condemns ‘misuse’ of Speaker’s post

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Condemning the attitude of the Speaker in the State Legislative Assembly in suspending ten BJP lawmakers, opposition BJP members staged a dharna in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue near Vidhana Soudha and later submitted a memorandum to Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot along with Janata Dal (Secular) members on Thursday.

After submitting the memorandum, former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said after the Congress Government came to power, there had been a series of murders in the state starting with the brutal killing of a Jain monk.

There is drought in the State and 3,500 villages do not have drinking water. The Speaker did not give permission to discuss these issues.

Ten members of the Opposition BJP were suspended for questioning the state government for deploying IAS officers to receive political leaders from other states for a political meeting. Such a bad decision has never been taken in the history of Karnataka.

The Congress Party is misusing the speaker’s post just for political gain, they claimed.

“At present, the office of Speaker is being misused. The Speaker could have resolved the issue by calling us for a meeting. Such incidents have happened in the past but such decisions have never been taken. The tradition has been that the Speaker must not participate in functions of political parties. However, the incumbent Speaker attended the dinner hosted by the Congress Party. For all these reasons, we have sought permission to move a no-confidence motion against the Speaker. It looks like the government is doing this to cover up its mistakes. If people have given the mandate to the Congress Party to rule the State, the same people have given an opportunity to us to speak in their favour”, the former CM said.

Bommai said terrorist activities were on the rise and the seizure of documents from five terror suspects clearly shows that the accused had international connections. For this reason, the case must be handed over to the NIA.

The governor has promised to convey their feelings to the Government of India. “We have decided to boycott the House protesting against the suspension of ten of our MLAs. The issue will be taken to the district level for a protest,” he added.