JOIN USJD(S) demands Central rule in State
On its part, the Congress decided to go ahead with its “Bellary convention” to expose the “misdeeds” of the State Government. The party also staged protest rallies across the State on Saturday.
The JD(S) had been a witness to the confrontation between an BJP MLA aligned with the Bellary ministers and a section of Congress legislators in the Assembly on Friday.
Political mileage
On Saturday, the party took maximum political mileage out of the ugly turn of events in the Lower House with former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda urging the Centre to dislodge the State Government and impose the president’s rule.
“The law and order situation in the State has collapsed and the Chief Minister has no control over his Cabinet colleagues”, Gowda told reporters in Bangalore. “The ministers and MLAs from Bellary used abusive language and threatened to finish Congress leaders. The Chief Minister also lost his cool and made threatening gestures towards the Leader of Opposition. I have never seen such incidents in my 50-year long political career”, Gowda said.
Gowda said a court in Bellary had issued a non-bailable warrant against Tourism minister Gali Janardhana Reddy seven times. But police had made no attempt to arrest him. Health Minister B Sriramulu was facing 17 cases. But no action was taken against him. “If the Chief Minister had a little self respect, he should have dismissed these ministers from the Cabinet”, he said.
Yeddyurappa responsible
In separate press conferences, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah and KPCC President R V Deshpande held Yeddyurappa solely responsible for the ugly turn of events in the Assembly. They demanded that the Speaker take disciplinary action against the BJP legislators and ministers who had sparked the confrontation.
JD(S) State President H D Kumaraswamy said his party also plans to launch a “Bellary Bachao Andolan”. “I will write to Sonia Gandhi and Sushma Swaraj in this regard. All progressive thinkers will be involved in the campaign”, he said. Speaker K G Bopaiah said his office has received complaints regarding Friday’s incident both from the ruling party and the Opposition.
“I have convened a meeting of floor leaders, chief whips and senior leaders on Monday. We will discuss the issue threadbare and try to resolve the same”, Bopaiah said. The Speaker said he will be viewing the video recording of the incident on Monday.
The top brass of the BJP condemned the incident, but left the Bellary ministers to defend for themselves.
“The party has decided not to go out of the way to support the Bellary ministers. It is up to them to defend their action”, a senior BJP functionary said.