House panel recommends suspension of 15 Oppn MLAs for ruckus

Bangalore, Jan 13 (PTI) A Karnataka Assembly committee,which looked into the unruly conduct of legislators during thetrust vote of the BJP government on October 11 last year, hasrecommended suspension of 15 Congress and Janata Dal (S) MLAsfrom membership of the House.

The panel, set up by the Speaker K G Bopaiah, recommendedsuspension of eight MLAs from membership for a year and sevenMLAs for six months for varying reasons -- from indulging inunruly behaviour by disobeying all House rules and procedures,showing disrespect to the Speaker, to curbing the rights ofother members, among others.

In its 287-page report tabled in the House today, thepanel headed by M P Appachu Ranjan of BJP, recommendedsuspension of Rahim Khan, Kakaso Panduranga Patil, U T Khader,N A Harris, (all Congress) B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, H CBalakrishna, C S Puttaraju, M T Krishnappa (all JD-S) for oneyear.

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 Committeeto submit a report recommending suitable action against the 15opposition MLAs (Congress � 8 and JD(S) � 7), identified forthe "ruckus" in the Assembly during the October 11 trust vote.

The Speaker constituted the committee while acting on apetition filed by BJP members, who alleged that the Congressand JD(S) MLAs lowered the dignity of the House by creatingunruly scenes and used unparliamentary language against theSpeaker during the trust vote, necessitated by the withdrawalof support to the government by 19 MLAs.