Ruckus hits Karnataka assembly, 10 BJP MLAs suspended

The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka gave notice seeking a no-confidence motion against assembly speaker UT Khader, after he suspended 10 BJP MLAs for the rest of the ongoing session citing unruly activities, on Wednesday.

Following this, BJP legislators, including former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, staged a protest outside the assembly building against the speaker’s decision. They were later detained by the police. The assembly session started on July 3 and will continue till July 21.

The situation turned chaotic in the house as some members of the BJP, while protesting against the alleged “misuse” of IAS officers by the state government, tore copies of bills and agenda and threw them at the Chair, as they were upset over the speaker’s decision to conduct the proceedings without allowing a lunch break.

The BJP MLAs displayed their anger as deputy speaker Rudrappa Lamani was conducting the proceedings, after speaker U T Khader left stating that the House would not break for lunch and the discussion on the Budget and demands would continue. He said that those members who want to go for lunch could do so and return to the discussions.

The commotion happened even as members of BJP and JD(S) protested from the well of the House accusing the ruling Congress government of deploying 30 IAS officers to “serve” its alliance leaders, who had met in the city on Monday and Tuesday to chalk out strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Upset by Speaker’s decision to conduct the proceedings and skip lunch break, 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 run like this.

Notably, a group of IAS officers were deputed to welcome various leaders attending the two-day unity meeting of Opposition parties in Bengaluru, for which, the Congress-led government in Karnataka has been criticised by the JD(S).

Following the ruckus, Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister H K Patil moved the appeal for suspension of the BJP MLAs, that read: “I am presenting this proposal...I request you that on this day under section 348 of the Karnataka Assembly Rules of Procedure, these members should be suspended from the Karnataka Assembly till the rest of the session for their indecent and disrespectful conduct, and should be barred from entering the House”.

The motion was then put to vote. Later, the speaker suspending the MLAs, said, “I am naming them [the 10 MLAs] because of their indecent and disrespectful conduct”.

The suspended MLAs include Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, V Sunil Kumar, R Ashoka, Araga Jnanendra (all former ministers), D Vedavyasa Kamath, Yashpal Suvarna, Dheeraj Muniraj, A Umanath Kotian, Arvind Bellad and Y Bharath Shetty.

Later in the evening, the Karnataka police detained former CM Basavaraj Bommai along with other BJP leaders who were protesting outside the Assembly over the suspension of 10 BJP MLAs for their “indecent and disrespectful conduct” in the House.

The police arrived at Vidhan Souda in Bengaluru and took Bommai into custody for protesting outside the Assembly. “This is the 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,” Bommai said.

Karnataka home minister Dr G Parameshwara condemned the incident, saying, “We have laid out some guidelines, some rules in the house. House rules are there. Nobody prevents them from protesting...but there is some basic discipline that they have to follow, attacking the chair is something we don’t see in the Karnataka legislature...And this has happened. It is unfortunate and we also appeal to the speaker to take some action.”