The Hindu

Bangalore, Jan 1: A day after the pandemonium in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, the entire Opposition on Thursday admitted that the unruly conduct of the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) members in House was not defendable and expressed regret for the noisy scenes on Wednesday.

Addressing presspersons here, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah and Janata Dal (Secular) Legislature Party leader H.D. Revanna expressed regret over the unruly conduct of their party members in the House and blamed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for creating such an atmosphere during the election to the Speaker’s post.

“We are not defending the conduct of our members, but the ruling BJP members should have conducted themselves in a more dignified way,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said. Amid chaos and pandemonium, with several members of the Opposition threatening the presiding officer, Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly K.G. Bopaiah was elected Speaker.

Both Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Revanna requested Governor H.R. Bhardwaj to order a fresh election for the post of the Speaker in the light of and the unseemly hurry of the government in pushing through with the election process. Asked about Mr. Bhardwaj’s response, they said he had told them that he would look into the issue and hold consultations with the Chief Minister.

Charge

Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Revanna alleged that the whole process of Speaker’s election on the face of it, prima facie was a conspiracy hatched by the Chief Minister and his party. The Chief Minister and other Ministers had no confidence in the victory of the ruling party’s candidate, they said.

Both leaders said they opposed the election since the government declared a State mourning following the death of actor Vishnuvardhan. The Speaker’s election was postponed in 1994 following the death of former President Giani Zail Singh. Ramesh Kumar was the Speaker’s candidate during the then H.D. Deve Gowda Government. It was not good on the part of the ruling BJP to celebrate the victory of Mr. Bopaiah when whole State was in mourning.