Wearing the bright orange newly-bought headgear, the JD(S) legislators, including H D Revanna, entered the House, much to the amusement of Congress members and protests by the ruling party.
“Some BJP members had issued open life threats to others in the House. We felt it appropriate to take adequate precautionary measures to safeguard ourselves,” JD(S) legislator Shivalinge Gowda told reporters.
Speaker K G Bopaiah repeatedly asked the members to remove the helmets as it would “send a wrong message to the people”, but to no avail.
The Speaker also ruled that he would not allow any member speak while wearing the headgear. The members replete with the headgear also entered the well of the House and joined the Congress members in their dharna seeking action against the Bellary ministers and a section of BJP legislators. They continued to wear the helmets as long as they were in the House.
Whose ideas was it to make the members wear helmets? “We do not know. We were given. May be Kumaranna’s idea,” said Shivalinge Gowda. He was not sure whether he and his colleagues would be asked to wear it on Tuesday too.