Privileges Committee to deal with Sangameshwar incident

Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri on Tuesday referred to the Privileges Committee, a motion moved against Congress' B K Sangameshwar, who is under suspension for going shirtless in the House.

The breach of privilege motion was moved by BJP MLA Araga Jnanendra amid protests by the Congress legislators.

Moving the motion, Jnanendra said that Sangameshwar's "indecent and disrespectful" behaviour amounted a breach of privilege of the entire House. "Fortunately, he removed only his shirt," Jnanendra said, triggering an outburst from the Congress MLAs, who entered the Well of the House and launched a protest.

Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah objected to Kageri's decision in allowing Jnanendra to make his preliminary submission on the privilege motion in the absence of Sangameshwar, the Bhadravathi MLA who is barred from entering the House till March 12.

Sanganeshwar removed his shirt in protest against the "false cases" that have been filed against him and his family.

Even as Jnanendra continued to speak, the Congress MLAs shouted slogans against the BJP government. A privilege motion should be moved against those involved in the 'CD controversy', they demanded. Law Minister Basavaraj Bommai insisted that acting against Sangameshwar was "essential" to prevent such incidents from being repeated.

"The privilege motion should have been discussed in the House, which was not allowed due to the Congress dharna. As a result, I have decided to hand it over to Privileges Committee," Kageri said.

The Committee will submit an inquiry report into the "indecent, irresponsible" behaviour by Sangameshwar and the 'derogatory remarks' made by the MLA against the Speaker, he said.