Political tussle in Karnataka Assembly reaches crescendo as 10 BJP members are suspended for ‘unruly behaviour’

BJP MLAs suspended for 'indiscipline' in Karnataka Assembly: 10 BJP members suspended from Assembly for two days for tearing copies of Bill and hurling them at Deputy Speaker's chair. BJP leaders submitted notice to Assembly Secretary seeking no-confidence motion against Speaker. CM Siddaramaiah termed behaviour of BJP members as 'act of goondaism'. Speaker said he had responsibility to protect honour of seat and would take stringent action if recurred.

The political tussle in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly reached a crescendo on Wednesday with 10 members of the Opposition BJP being suspended for “indiscipline and unruly behaviour” as they tore copies of a Bill and hurled them at Deputy Speaker Rudrappa Lamani while he was in the Speaker’s chair.

The members indulged in the act while they were protesting in the Well of the House against appointing IAS officers as liaison officers for the leaders who had attended the national Opposition leaders’ meeting in Bengaluru on Monday and Tuesday. 

Mr. Lamani named the 10 BJP members who indulged in “indiscipline and the episode of disrespecting the Speaker’s chair” and then the Assembly adopted a resolution on suspending them from the House for the remaining two days of proceedings.

Later, turning their ire on the Speaker, BJP leaders submitted a notice to the Assembly Secretary seeking permission to move a no-confidence motion against him in the House.

The suspended BJP members included former Deputy Chief Ministers R. Ashok and C.N. Ashwath Narayan besides former Ministers V. Sunil Kumar and Araga Jnanendra. The others who were suspended are Arvind Bellad, Vedavyas Kamath, Yashpal Suvarna, Dheeraj Muniraju, Umanath Kotian, and Bharat Y. Shetty. 

There was high drama even after the suspension as Assembly marshals had to physically eject some of the members. BJP members in the Assembly took exception to this and staged a dharna in front of the Speaker’s chambers and on the steps of the Vidhana Soudha along with JD(S) members, terming the action as a “political vendetta”. However, the police took them into custody.

BJP leader and former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai described this as a “murder of democracy” and alleged that the Speaker had become “a stooge in the hands of the government”.