Ruckus in LS over Trust scam

Yeddyurappa has lost moral right to continue, says Deve Gowda

The MPs trooped into the well of the House and interrupted Gowda, forcing Speaker Meira Kumar to adjourn the House.

Congress leader  Jagadambika Pal also raised the issue of alleged scam by the Chief Minister’s family in Karnataka, amid protests by the BJP members.

Deve Gowda alleged that the Prerana Trust had received Rs 27.18 crore as donations, mostly from real estate firms and mining companies. He alleged that the Trust had misused the office of the chief minister to collect donations from those companies, which had received favours from the state BJP government.

Stating that Yeddyurappa had lost the moral right to continue in the post, the JD (S) leader demanded a probe into the scam.

The BJP MPs were on their feet the moment the Speaker called Gowda to speak during the Zero Hour.

As the BJP MPs, including Yeddyurappa’s son B Y Raghavendra and others, rushed to the well of the House, Gowda wondered if the LS was “at the mercy of these people”. BJP MP Ananth Kumar, however, was not present in the House. With the party heavyweights like L K Advani and Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj sitting in the front row of the Opposition Bench, the BJP MPs raised slogans, interrupting Gowda, who retorted: “This House cannot be run by the opposition leader due to her numerical strength. We have every right to speak in the House.” He was apparently referring to leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj.

He was supported by the CPI (M)’s Basudev Acharia, the Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav and the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Lalu Prasad.

Following chaos, the Speaker adjourned the House till 12.30 pm.    When the House re-assembled, Gowda continued speaking on the issue.

Suggesting that “a quid pro quo” was involved in the flow of donations to the Trust, Gowda claimed that he had all the documents to prove the charges.