Karnataka Assembly deferred for the day in the midst of BJP protests

Bengaluru, Feb 7 The Karnataka Assembly was deferred for the day Thursday as BJP MLAs disrupted proceedings for the second day charging that the Congress-JD(S) alliance government lacked majority.

The nine Congress MLAs, who had avoided the legislature sitting Wednesday, were absent in the House on Thursday also.

A chaotic scene greeted Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar as he entered, with the BJP MLAs in the Well of the House.

Before Kumar could sit down and begin the procedures, the BJP MLAs raised trademarks like, 'Go backCM, Go back CM', 'Venture Down CM, Step Down CM', 'down government without dominant part' and 'No solidarity, no greater part'.

The agitating MLAs did not pay notice to the speaker's demand that the BJP members resume their seats, prompting him to adjourn the proceedings for 10 minutes.

When the House met again, the BJP proceeded with its protest, forcing the Speaker to adjourn proceedings till 12.30 p.m Friday when Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's government will table the 2019-2020 budget.

A similar chaos prevailed in the Karnataka Legislative Council where the BJP members trooped into the Well of the House and raised slogans saying the government has lost majority.

Disgruntled Congress MLAs Umesh Jadhav, Mahesh Kumtalli,Ramesh Jarkiholi and B Nagendra, who are reportedly in contact with the BJP, remained absent for the second day and were incommunicado.

Absconding Congress MLA J N Ganesh, for whom the police are on the lookout for allegedly assaulting fellow lawmaker Anand Singh during a brawl at a resort recently, too was absent.

"It is an eanti-people government which needs majority and thus, it has no directly to proceed with," state senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister R Ashok told reporters.

Ignoring the whip, nine Congress MLAs had skirted the legislature sitting Wednesday, giving a bad case of nerves to the ruling coalition on the opening day of the budget session itself.

Unruly BJP members created a ruckus disturbing the address of Governor Vajubhai Vala to the joint session of the assembly, forcing him to stop his speech and read the last para.