BJP MLAs detained for staging demonstration outside Karnataka Assembly
Bengaluru, July 19: BJP MLAs, including former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, were detained and taken to the Vidhana Soudha police station for staging a demonstration outside the Karnataka Assembly in protest against the suspension of 10 party legislators.
JD(S) second-in-command and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy too had briefly joined the BJP during the protest.
Bommai termed the suspension "illegal" and "murder of democracy".
He alleged that the Siddaramaiah government has adopted a "dictatorial" attitude and is trying to stifle the voice of the opposition. "We will take the issue to the people".
Ten BJP MLAs were suspended from the Karnataka Legislative Assembly for the remainder of the session by Speaker U T Khader for their "indecent and disrespectful conduct" in the House on Wednesday.
The 10 MLAs 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.
The assembly session began on July three and is slated to end on July 21.
The Speaker's action came after the House witnessed chaotic scenes as some members of the BJP tore copies of bills and the agenda and threw them at the Chair, as they were upset over the Speaker's decision to conduct the proceedings of the House without giving a lunch break.
This was amid the BJP's protest against the Congress government for allegedly "misusing" IAS officers for the meeting of opposition leaders from around the country that was held in Bengaluru in the past two days.
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Congress must talk about status of INDIA bloc, says Shiv Sena (UBT)
Mumbai, Apr 12 (PTI): The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Saturday said the Congress must talk about the status of the INDIA bloc and should have addressed questions about the opposition alliance in the party's recent meeting in Ahmedabad.
In an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana', the Sena (UBT) pointed out that the Congress only spoke about itself in the Ahmedabad meet, and INDIA or Bharat was nowhere in the discussion.
"Questions are being raised about where the INDIA bloc stands after the Lok Sabha election. The Congress needed to address this in its Ahmedabad session," the editorial said.
"What happened to the alliance? Did it get buried in the ground or vanish into thin air? The responsibility to answer this question lies with the Congress president," it said.
The Congress held its session on April 8-9 in Gujarat, where it has been out of power for two decades. Senior Congress leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, addressed party workers.
The Sena (UBT) also sought to know the Congress's stand for the Bihar, Gujarat and West Bengal state polls. "Or will the party again welcome defeat?" it asked.
In Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal is a senior partner, while in Gujarat and West Bengal, INDIA partners, the Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress, will also be in the fray.
"The Congress held its session in Gujarat but this did not yield any success in the state in the Lok Sabha polls, as the party won one seat in the western state after 2014," the Sena UBT said.
It said the Congress needs to make efforts in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. While the party met with success in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha polls, it suffered a humiliating defeat in the state assembly polls.
"The scams of the BJP are as much responsible for this loss as the internal issues of the Congress. It has to deliberate on this," the editorial added.
The Congress has to take the lead in fighting dictatorship, the Sena (UBT) said.
Referring to the Delhi assembly polls, where the AAP and Congress faced defeat, the Sena (UBT) said some Congress leaders thought the road was clear for the party in the national capital.
If Congress uses this strategy of contesting against the INDIA bloc partners in other states, it will only help the BJP, it said.
"We have to defeat the BJP and not our friends," the party said.
The Sena UBT said an alliance between the Congress and AAP would have proved beneficial.
