Assembly witnesses ‘tu tu, main main’ between Siddu, Araga

NT Correspondent

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah and Home Minister Araga Jnanendra entered into an argument over the law and order situation and corruption in the police department, in the Assembly on Thursday.

Initiating a discussion under rule-69 on the crumbling law and order situation, the opposition leader charged that the ‘rate card’ on the lines of the price list in hotels for eatables, has been fixed for transfer of police officers from one place to another. This has appeared in the media too. With such officers, can people expect the maintenance of law and order in the state, he wondered.

Replying to this, Araga said previously, agents were appointed for the transfer of police officers. After he became home minister, these agents had been booted out. The opposition leader should himself clarify when corruption in the police department started, he quipped.

Reacting to this, Siddaramaiah said, “Tell me what changes have you brought in after you became home minister. Araga has no vision for the department. A person who cannot ride a horse given to him is neither a hero nor brave,” he remarked.

The home minister replied that he was like a new rider of an old horse and he would go wherever it takes him.

Quoting a senior police officer, Siddaramaiah said the home department was losing track due to influence of caste and other factors. A police officer had taken money on interest to pay for his transfer from one place to another. Araga must accept his failure to run the department, the former CM said.

When Siddaramaiah tried to attack the government on its failure to stop the gangrape at Chamundi Hill in Mysuru a few months ago, Araga intervened and said Mahatma Gandhi had dreamt of Ram Rajya and asked if it had happened? Criminals are there everywhere and the government must keep them under check. The job is being done by him under the leadership of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, he added.

Siddaramaiah however continued in the same vein saying the law and order machinery had collapsed after the BJP came to power in the state. The crime rate has gone up because of which investors are feeling scared to come to the state. In the name of moral policing, atrocities are being committed on the minorities in the coastal areas and the police have failed to check them, he said.