K'taka: Congress withdraws dharna in Assembly

Bangalore, Feb 21: Opposition Congress party today withdrew its dharna in the Legislative Assembly following a letter written Governor T N Chaturvedi asking the Karnataka government to hold elections to the post of Chairman of the Legislative Council at the earliest.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly N Dharam Singh said after the House met for the day that the party had withdrawn its six-day old dharna after Governor T N Chatuvedi had written the letter.

He said his party would take part in the discussions as the Governor's message to the government had vindicated its demand asking the government to fulfill the constitutional norm by holding the elections.

Former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the government should immediately reconvene the Legislative Council, which was adjourned to March 16, yesterday.

Congress members, including Mr Mallikarjun Kharge, made reference to yesterday's incident of 'attack' on the Presiding Officer in the Assembly and said the government was responsible for it and not his party.

The House witnessed heated discussions, while personal attacks thrown at each other between Water Resources Minister K S Eshwharappa and Mr Siddaramaiah during the discussion.

Home Minister M P Prakash in his reply said that the issue could not be discussed in the House as the Govenror had addressed his letter to the Council.

UNI