Speaker faces independents’ wrath

BANGALORE: Speaker KG Bopaiah will face a stormy session with the opening day on Monday marked by four of the five independent legislators (Varthur Prakash is a minister) creating an uproar in the House over Bopaiah sharing the podium with governor HR Bhardwaj. The Speaker recently faced the Supreme Court’s strictures in the trust motion case.
When the governor commenced his address to the joint session of legislature, PM Narendraswamy, Venkataramanappa, Shivaraj S Thangadagi and D Sudhakar raised slogans against Bopaiah, forcing the governor to pause for 2 minutes before he continued with his speech.They charged the Speaker with having gone against the Constitution to disqualify them in 2010 ahead of the trust motion sought by former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa.
The apex court in its order last week slammed the Speaker for disqualifying five independents and 11 BJP MLAs who had revolted against the Yeddyurappa government. The court observed that the disqualification was done with male fide intentions. The MLAs’ membership was restored by the court last year.
After the governor concluded his speech and left, accompanied by presiding officers of both Houses and chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda as per protocol, Congress legislators joined the independents in demanding Bopaiah’s resignation. When the situation showed signs of going out of control, Bopaiah announced he was tabling the governor’s speech and adjourned the House till Tuesday.
The Congress had planned to move a no-confidence motion against the Speaker. But as rules stipulate that a notice for moving the motion should be sent 14 days in advance, it dropped the idea as the session is on only till February 10. Congress and independents will raise the issue again on Tuesday.
Bhardwaj had his share of embarrassing moments when he arrived to the assembly. As he was about to enter the House, BJP MLA Belur Gopalkrishna greeted him with a placard to protest against the governor’s alleged refusal to meet 11 BJP MLAs in Raj Bhavan, when they had been disqualified in 2010.
Soon after the governor concluded his speech, Congress MLC VR Sudarshan asked the governor: “Which government’s governance are you extolling ? There is no governance in the state.’’