CM's aide causes flutter at LH

 The 11 BJP rebels and five independents did not attend the hearing but were represented by their counsel. Police had cordoned off the section of the building housing the VIP chamber.

All hell broke lose when the legal advisor to the Chief Minister, M K Diwakar entered the VIP chamber as the hearing was on.

JD(S) functionaries including party spokesperson Y S V Datta, who were present outside the hearing venue, demanded that Diwakar come out as he had no business to attend the hearing. “Send Diwakar out. He is advisor to the Chief Minister, not the Speaker,” they shouted, threatening that they would not allow the hearing to proceed if Diwakar stayed on.

Things cooled down as Diwakar exited the premises voluntarily.

Under the Damocles’ sword

The BJP has petitioned the Speaker to disqualify the 16 Legislative Assembly members (11 BJP rebels and five independents)
* Rebels: Belur Gopalakrishna; Anand Asnotikar;
Balachandra Jarkiholi; Raju Kage; Sarvabhouma Bagali; Sampangi Y; G L Nanjundaswamy; Nagaraj; Shivanagouda Naik; Shankaralingegowda; S K Bellubbi
* Independents: Venkataramanappa; Shivaraj Thangadagi; Goolihatti Shekar; P M Narendraswamy; D Sudhakar

The BJP on Sunday withdrew its disqualification petition against two legislators - M P Renukacharya and Narasimha Naik (Raju Gowda) as the two have come back to the party fold.