The Hindu

• Some persons from Belgaum were demanding action against two officials 

Bangalore, Jun 27: A few foreign dignitaries, who were seated in a gallery of the Legislative Assembly on Monday, were witness to slogan-shouting by visitors to the House from Belgaum district.

The dignitaries were five MPs from the Chechen Republic, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of a Russian city, the Education Minister of a province of South Africa, and a Princess from the Sultanate of Oman.

The slogans were raised by people from Raibagh taluk of Belgaum district demanding the transfer or suspension of a tahsildar and a police inspector. Bheemappa Sarikar (Janata Dal-United), who represents the constituency, said the two officials were not obeying the orders of the Deputy Commissioner or the people's representatives. The tahsildar, he said, was harassing members of a Scheduled Caste by denying them caste certificate.

The protesters were removed by the security personnel of the Legisaltive Assembly. The foreign dignitaries left the gallery after a few minutes.

Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa said action would be taken against the tahsildar.

The House witnessed a walkout by members of the Opposition who said their names had not been included in the invitation to the inauguration of the metro rail project.

They said among the names left out was that of Leader of the Opposition N. Dharam Singh. They criticised the Government for not giving a seat on the dais to Mayor of Bangalore Mumtaz Begum.

Earlier, there was an exchange of words between Abhayachandra and Dinesh Gundu Rao (Congress) on one side, and BJP members, when they criticised BJP State unit president D.V. Sadananda Gowda for staging a dharna in Mangalore in protest against the non-inclusion of the names of a few leaders in the invitation to the launch of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission project in Mangalore.

Mr. Yediyurappa said the practice of inviting legislators and MPs should not be flouted. He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be invited again for launching the project in a fortnight.