Lagatar24 Desk
Bengaluru, July 21: Following the Speaker’s suspension of 10 BJP members for the remainder of the session for their “indecent and disrespectful” behaviour in the House, the opposition BJP and the JD(S) boycotted the Karnataka Legislative Assembly’s proceedings for a second day on Friday.
The legislature’s current session, which began on July 3, ends today.
In front of the Gandhi statue at the Vidhana Sabha, BJP legislators staged a sit-in protest while raising slogans against Speaker U T Khader and the government.
A joint delegation from the BJP and JD(S) petitioned Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Thursday with complaints about the “functioning” of the state’s Congress government, its “suppressive and dictatorial” attitude, and the Speaker’s behavior.
Along with Deputy Speaker Rudrappa Lamani, the Speaker also met with the Governor and gave him a report on the Assembly’s Wednesday proceedings.
Angry BJP legislators tore up copies of bills and the agenda on Wednesday and flung them at Lamani, who was presiding. As a result, Speaker Khader suspended 10 of the legislators for the remainder of the session.
For their “indecent and disrespectful conduct” in the House, ten BJP legislators have been suspended for the rest of the session are: C N 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.
After the House passed a motion to that effect on Wednesday, they were suspended.
The Assembly Secretary was then notified of a vote of no-confidence against the Speaker by MLAs from the opposing BJP and JD(S).
The unexpected turn of events occurred as members of the opposition BJP and JD(S) protested from the well of the House, accusing the Congress government of sending 30 IAS officers to “serve” its alliance leaders who had gathered there on Monday and Tuesday to make strategies for the 2024 Lok Sabha election.