Karnataka Legislative Council ruckus: CLP chief Siddaramaiah quotes rules, says BJP leaders are goondas

Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah on Tuesday used the rulebook to lash out at the BJP over the ruckus in the Legislative Council on Tuesday, branding the saffron party leaders as “goondas”.

Addressing a news conference, Siddaramaiah said such “goondagiri” was unprecedented in the history of Karnataka’s legislature.

Reading out provisions from the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Karnataka Legislative Council, Siddaramaiah said there was no validity in the no-confidence motion that the BJP wanted to move

“Once a notice to move the motion is rejected, it dies. There’s no scope to bring it up again,” Siddaramaiah said.

“The notice to move the motion should be given 14 days earlier. Once the notice is admitted, it shall be discussed within five days. Here, the notice itself got rejected because it was not in order,” he pointed out. “According to Kaul and Shakdher, the notice should be accompanied with evidence for the charges being levelled (against the Chairman),” he explained.

Siddaramaiah said Council chairman K Pratapachandra Shetty was “very much present” in the House. “The quorum bell was still ringing, but they locked the door to prevent the chairman from entering. Such goondas! Is this Modi’s democracy,” he asked.

Hitting out at Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan and Law Minister JC Madhuswamy for inciting the unruliness, Siddaramaiah said: “After the House was adjourned sine die, Madhuswamy threatened the marshall. Is this democracy?”

Siddaramaiah rejected the BJP’s claims that Congress MLCs behaved like goondas. “Where have we done goondagiri? Should the House not run as per rules? That the deputy chairman took the seat itself was illegal. Locking the door to prevent the chairman from entering the House, isn’t that goondagiri?” he said, adding that even JD(S) MLCs partook in the goondagiri.

“The BJP,” Siddaramaiah said, “has once again established that they don’t have any respect for democracy, rules of business and law of the land.”