‘Communal’ comment on Speaker: Action sought against Harish Poonja

Bengaluru:  Congress lawmakers, led by Government Chief Whip Ashok Pattan, on Tuesday lodged a breach-of-privilege complaint against BJP’s Belthangady MLA Harish Poonja for allegedly disrespecting Speaker U T Khader. 

Speaking to reporters, Pattan said Poonja had made “communal” and “disrespectful” comments about Khader. “This amounts to disrespect towards the Chair,” he said. “We have sought breach of privilege proceedings against Poonja.”

In a recent interview to a news channel during a protest against Khader’s decision to suspend 18 BJP MLAs for six months, Poonja said: “Khader has demonstrated a sample of what Muslim-majority administration will look like.”

Congress MLAs Ashok Kumar Rai, Basanagouda Turvihal, D Ravishankar, Prasad Abbayya and J N Ganesh have signed Pattan’s petition addressed to Khader seeking action against Poonja.