JD(U), BJP walkout against tabling of report

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, JULY 25. The BJP and the JD(U) members on Wednesday staged a walkout in the Legislative Assembly in protest against the tabling of the report of the Joint Select Committee on the Karnataka Universities Amendment Bill, 2000.

There were noisy scenes when the Minister of State for Higher Education, Dr. G. Parameshwar, was called to present the report of the committee. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Jagdish Shettar, said the report should not be laid on the table of the House as the Bill had created a controversy. Moreover, two members of the committee had resigned. After this, Mr. Shettar and his partymen staged a walkout.

The Leader of the JD(U) group, Mr. P. G. R. Sindhia, said that there was no need to table the report in the House. In protest against the Government's move, he, along with his party members, staged a walkout.

Zero Hour extended

Earlier, the House witnessed an unusual incident of a minister objecting to the manner in which the Zero Hour was stretched beyond an hour and subjects included in the agenda were not given due attention.

The Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. D. B. Chandre Gowda, pleaded with the Speaker, Mr. M. V. Venkatappa, to take up official business as the Budget had to be passed before the end of the month. At that point, Mr. Shettar pleaded with the Speaker to permit him to take up an issue concerning farmers. Several other members wanted the Speaker to allow them to raise other issues.

Mr. Gowda took objection to the extension of the Zero Hour and said that the Government was not being allowed to introduce the demands for grants of various departments although the deadline for passing the Budget was fast approaching. The Speaker sought to allay the Government's fears by stating that ``the Opposition and the Government should have an understanding.''

The Minister for Forests, Mr. K. H. Ranganath, objected to this off-the-cuff remark by the Speaker. The Opposition demanded that a remark made by Mr. Ranganath should be expunged as it amounted to an affront on the Chair. Mr. Shettar and Mr. Sindhia supported this demand. Mr. Ranganath said that his remark was not unparliamentary and that he would not allow it to be expunged. However, the Speaker conceded the Opposition demand and ruled that Mr. Ranganath's remark be expunged.

The House witnessed noisy scenes again when Dr. Parameshwar was called to table the report on the Karnataka State Universities Amendment Bill. The Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, said the House had to function as per rules and questioned how a minister could be prevented from tabling a report. He suggested to the Opposition to oppose the Bill when it came up for debate and to move amendments. ``Is there any meaning in opposing it now?'', he asked.

The Opposition in the Legislative Council staged a walkout over the report of the Committee on the Bill. The Acting Chairman of the Council, Mr. David Simeon, said the resignation of the three members - Mr. K. Balakrishna Bhat, Mr. Alkod Hanumanthappa and Mr. Basavaraj Horatti - was not valid as it was not in conformity with the rules.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. K. H. Srinivasa, who led the walk-out, said the Opposition would not like to be a party either to the select committee's report or to the proposed legislation.

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Section  : Southern States
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