15 Congress MLCs suspended from Legislative Council

Belagavi: Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti on Wednesday suspended 15 Congress MLCs including Leader of Opposition S R Patil for a day, for "intentionally" obstructing the proceedings of the House and disobeying the Chair.

The other suspended members are: M Narayanaswamy, B K Hariprasad, Pratap Chandra Shetty, C M Ibrahim, Naseer Ahmed, R B Thimmapura, Basavaraj Patil Itagi, U B Venkatesh, Aravind Kumar Arali, M A Gopalaswamy, C M Lingappa, Veena Achaiah, P R Ramesh and Harish Kumar The members were staging a dharna, shouting slogans from the well of the House, demanding a debate on allegations of land-grabbing involving a minister and a legislator. Raising the issue, while pressing for an adjournment motion to discuss it, Narayana swamy said that a minister and a legislator had allegedly grabbed land by creating fake documents in Bengaluru, and that a court in Bengaluru had taken cognizance of the case and had ordered criminal cases against them. Opposing it, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy said that any matter pending adjudication cannot be discussed in the House.

Despite this, the Congress members continued to demand that they be allowed to discuss the matter in the House, adjourning all other proceedings, while BJP members from the treasury benches stuck to their stand that the matter is sub judice and it cannot be discussed.

The Chairman after hearing both sides denied permission to discuss the issue citing that the matter is sub judice and rejected the adjournment notice, and adjourned the House for lunch. As the House met post lunch, Congress members trooped into the well of the House holding placards and shouting slogans "down down the corrupt government."

Then Congress members requested the Chair to reconsider its ruling. However, members of the treasury benches said that the Chair had given its decision and it was final. Chairman Horatti asked protesting members 'if it is right to go against the ruling of the Chair, and said that 'he will not entertain such behaviour'. "The Chair cannot be dictated." Leader of the House and minister Kota Srinivas Poojary said the ruling of the Chair could not be questioned and it was the responsibility of every member to abide by it.

As the Congress members remained adamant and continued to protest from the well obstructing the proceedings of the House, treasury bench members accused the opposition of disrespecting the Chair. As the chaos continued, the Leader of the House pressed for action against those disobeying the ruling of the Chair, following which Chairman Horatti suspended the members from the House, for the day. However, suspended members, without going out, continued to raise slogans from the well of the House against the government, which elicited sharp reaction from treasury benches and Minister Madhuswamy. MLC Tejaswini Gowda, who for some time occupied the chair in the Chairman's absence, read out the names of members suspended for the day, quoting rules. As the suspended members did not relent and remained in the well of the House, Chairman Horatti, who after some time returned to the chair, adjourned the House for the day. PTI