Speaker U T Khader suspends 10 BJP MLAs for ”indecent and disrespectful” conduct

PTI, Jul 19, 2023, 5:17 PM IST

Ten BJP MLAs were suspended from the Karnataka Legislative Assembly for the remainder of the session by Speaker U T Khader for their ”indecent and disrespectful conduct” in the House on Wednesday.

The 10 MLAs are Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, V Sunil Kumar, R Ashoka, Araga Jnanendra (all former ministers), D Vedavyasa Kamath, Yashpal Suvarna, Dheeraj Muniraj, A Umanath Kotian, Arvind Bellad and Y Bharath Shetty.

The assembly session began on July 3 and is slated to end on July 21. The Speaker’s action came after the House witnessed chaotic scenes as some members of the BJP tore copies of bills and agenda and threw them at the Chair, as they were upset over the Speaker’s decision to conduct the proceedings of the House without giving a lunch break.

This was amid the BJP’s protest against the Congress government for allegedly ”misusing” IAS officers for opposition leaders’ meeting in the past two days.

The Speaker said, “I am naming them (the 10 MLAs) because of their indecent and disrespectful conduct,” following which Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the House responds to his ”anguish”.

“I am presenting this proposal…I request you that on this day under section 348 of the Karnataka Assembly Rules of Procedure, these members should be suspended from the Karnataka Assembly till the rest of the session for their indecent and disrespectful conduct, and should be barred from entering the House,” Patil said.

The Speaker said, “With extreme anguish I am putting this motion to vote.”

Based on the voice vote, the 10 members were suspended from the Assembly.