In the midst of the Opposition uproar over the porn-gate, the Legislative Assembly was adjourned sine die on Wednesday without transacting any business and simply adopting a vote of thanks to the governor’s address to the joint session of the legislature.
After two adjournments, the House reassembled at 4.45 pm but the ruckus by the ruling party members continued.
Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda’s assertion that the government was committed to inquiring into the act of the three former ministers who were watching porn clippings in the Assembly, failed to bring any peace.
“Let the Speaker take any action against the former ministers, including appointing a House committee to probe the incidents. No one is above the law. My government is committed to conducting an impartial enquiry into the matter. Our intention is to allow the Speaker to conduct impartial inquiry in the matter”, the CM said.
When Opposition leader Siddaramaiah intervened to state his views on the CM remarks, BJP member Aravind Limbavali held out a list of tainted Congress leaders including former governor of Andra Pradesh, Mr N.D. Tiwari.
The Opposition members took strong objection to this with Mr Siddaramaiah thundering “You (ruling party) have been converted this House into night club”. In the midst of a protest by the Opposition, the Speaker read out his ruling against the ‘tainted’ ministers and the House adopted the resolution of vote of thanks to the governor address.
The House was then adjourned sine die. Earlier in the day, the Opposition sought to move a resolution condemning the act of the three former ministers and requesting the Speaker to disqualify them, to which Law and parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Kumar objected.
The entire proceedings was marred by noisy scenes with both ruling and opposition members indulging in shouting slogans at each other. When Mr Siddaramaiah pushed for a discussion on the issue of the ministers, BJP president K.S. Eshwarappa said only a probe would reveal whether what they were watching was a pornographic video or not. An enraged Siddaramaiah said it was an effort to hush up the issue and got into an argument with the CM.
With bedlam prevailing, Speaker K.G. Bopaiah adjourned the House for half-an-hour. When the house assembled again, Mr Siddaramaiah continued his arguments again, following which the House was plunged into chaos and adjourned.
