Karnataka Congress boycotts 6 ministers in house

BENGALURU: The BJP and the Congress on Tuesday engaged in a war of words over the latter’s strategy not to ask questions to six ministers, who secured injunction from a city court restraining media from publishing defamatory material against them.
The ministers had approached the court for an injunction after one of their colleagues, Ramesh Jarkiholi, resigned as a minister after a purported sex CD allegedly involving him surfaced early in the month.
In both houses, the Congress members have been refusing to pose any questions during the ongoing budget session to ministers Shivaram Hebbar, BC Patil, ST Somashekar, K Sudhakar, KC Narayana Gowda, and Byrathi Basavaraj.
Cong, BJP spar over boycott of ministers
Council proceedings were disrupted for 30 minutes as BJP and Congress members sparred over the issue. During question hour, deputy council chairman MK Pranesh asked Congress MLC PR Ramesh to ask a question to co-operation minister ST Somashekar. But Ramesh said he wouldn’t ask questions since the minister had “no moral right” to continue in office.
“You cannot do this. The ministers have obtained injunction to avoid a smear campaign against them on social media. You cannot boycott a minister. If you continue with this stand, I will direct others to ask questions on your behalf,” Pranesh said.
BJP whip Mahantesh Kavatagimath said: “Once a member sends in the question, it becomes the property of the house. So other members should be allowed to ask the question listed by Ramesh.”
Congress member BK Hariprasad said members had the right to boycott a minister and cited the example of boycott of then defence minister George Fernandes in Parliament during the NDA-I rule for his alleged involvement in a scam. This led to a heated argument between the two sides.
Explaining the injunction decision, Somashekhar said a conspiracy is being hatched against him and a few other ministers to malign their image in public. “And it is not because of any CD pertaining to us,” he added. Amid the arguments, Pranesh allowed BJP’s Sunil Subramani to ask a question on behalf of Ramesh. Peeved Congress members rushed to the well and started raising slogans. Following a din, the deputy chairman adjourned the house for 10 minutes.
In the assembly, Congress members PT Parameshwar Naik and Yathindra Siddaramaiah turned down an answer provided by planning and statistics minister KC Narayana Gowda. Though Naik had sought an answer from the chief minister, it was transferred to Gowda. When Naik objected to this, law and parliamentary affairs minister Basavaraj Bommai defended his colleague, saying everyone has the right constitutionally to protect their honour.
An irked speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri took Naik to task after he refused to accept an answer from Gowda over allocation of funds to seven Hyderabad-Karnataka districts. “If you don’t want to ask any questions, do not. But don’t waste the time of the house,” he said.
Last week, Puttaranga Shetty, from the Congress, had refused to pose a question to Gowda citing the same grounds. However, Tanveer Sait, defying his party’s stand, sought response from minister Gowda.