Karnataka Vidhan Soudha, Bengaluru
By Shankar Raj*
Bengaluru: Armed with blankets and anger, the Congress legislators spent a night in the Assembly demanding the resignation of rural development and panchayat raj minister KS Eshwarappa for his statement on the saffron flag. The minister has courted controversy by stating: “In future, the saffron flag could replace the national flag at Red Fort.”
The ‘protest sleep-over in the Houses’ ended early today.
Around 120 MLAs and MLCs, including opposition leader Siddaramaiah and KPCC president DK Shivakumar, stayed overnight. The government played a good host in the House by arranging for dinner and beds to facilitate their night stay. “We’ll take our protest to a logical end. The government must dismiss Eshwarappa and lodge a sedition case against him,” Siddaramaiah said.
Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar Friday warned the BJP government that if the minister is not sacked, Congress would move the court besides continuing to disrupt the ongoing assembly session.
Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai took exception to the protest. “Not that there were no day-and-night protests in the past. They were for the people’s cause. This protest is against a statement that is meaningless. There is nothing illegal in Eshwarappa’s statement,” he said.
“The government and people of the state are striving hard to end the ongoing issue (hijab) in schools and colleges. The Congress, being the principal opposition, has resorted to protest against a non-issue which is unfortunate,” he said. Defending Eshwarappa, BJP alleged that the Congress “insulted” the national flag by using it during the protest inside the house.
Siddaramaiah said the Governor should intervene and instruct the CM to dismiss Eshwarappa as his comments “amount to treason”.
*Shankar Raj is former Editor of The New Indian Express, Karnataka and Kerala, and writes regularly on current affairs.
