A Karnataka assembly committee, which looked into the unruly conduct of legislators during the trust vote of the BJP government on October 11 last year, has recommended suspension of 15 Congress and Janata Dal (S) MLAs from membership of the house.
The panel, set up by the Speaker K.G. Bopaiah, recommended suspension of eight MLAs from membership for a year and seven MLAs for six months for varying reasons — from indulging in unruly behaviour by disobeying all House rules and procedures, showing disrespect to the Speaker, to curbing the rights of other members, among others.
In its 287-page report tabled in the house on Thursday, the panel headed by M.P. Appachu Ranjan of BJP, recommended suspension of Rahim Khan, Kakaso Panduranga Patil, U T Khader, N A Harris, (all Congress) B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, H C Balakrishna, C S Puttaraju, M T Krishnappa (all JD-S) for one year.
It recommended suspension of B K Sangamesh, Suresh Gowda, P M Ashok, H P Manjunath, (all Congress), Bandeppa Kashempur, K Raju and K P Bache Gowda (all JD-S) for six months.
Bopaiah had constituted the seven-member house committee to submit a report recommending suitable action against the 15 opposition MLAs (Congress — 8 and JD(S) — 7), identified for the "ruckus" in the assembly during the October 11 trust vote.
The Speaker constituted the committee while acting on a petition filed by BJP members, who alleged that the Congress and JD(S) MLAs lowered the dignity of the house by creating unruly scenes and used unparliamentary language against the Speaker during the trust vote, necessitated by the withdrawal of support to the government by 19
MLAs.