The Legislative Council saw a noisy start on Monday with the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party resorting to dharna after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah categorically rejected their demand for the resignation of Minister K.J. George.
Earlier, Leader of the Opposition K.S. Eshwarappa sought to move an adjournment motion seeking Mr. George’s resignation in the wake of the CBI filing an FIR against him in the Dy.SP M.K. Ganapathy suicide case. Although Chairman of the Legislative Council D.H. Shankarmurthy did not allow the adjournment motion saying there was no precedence to allow adjournment motion in the Upper House, the BJP members stuck to their demand forcing the chairman to adjourn the House to Tuesday.
The BJP members’ plea to allow them to move an adjournment motion had triggered a war of words with senior council members differing on issues like whether adjournment motion could be taken up before the question hour, whether BAC (Business Advisory Committee) is supreme in the House, and so on. Mr. Shankaramurthy allowed Mr. Eshwarappa to make preliminary submissions on admissibility of the adjournment motion.
A heated exchange ensuedwhen the ruling members took exception to some of Mr. Eshwarappa’s remarks. The House had to be adjourned for awhile to bring order to the proceedings.
Mr. Siddaramaiah countered Mr. Eshwarappa’s argument and said the motion was not tenable. Quoting the Supreme Court’s order on handing over the case to CBI and subsequent FIR filed by the CBI, Mr. Siddramaiah said that nowhere in the court order had Mr. George’s name been mentioned. Hence there was no question of getting his resignation. He accused the BJP of politicising the issue. “If you want to make it a political issue, we will fight it out politically. You will again go home defeated [in the Assembly elections],” he said. When Mr. Shankarmurthy declined to allow the adjournment motion, Mr. Eshwarappa, along with other BJP members, trooped into the well of the House and commenced a dharna demanding Mr. George’s resignation, forcing adjournment of the House.
