Vidhan Soudha witnessed stormy scenes in Wednesday with the opposition MLAs creating a ruckus after CM Siddaramaiah submitted his controversial luxury watch to the speaker.

Close to a month after his watch became a controversy, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has submitted the item to the Karnataka Speaker.

As the Opposition continued to raise slogans against the Chief Minister in the Assembly, Siddaramaiah handed over the Hublot watch to Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa, after which, the latter declared that the item was the property of the Legislature.

Speaking in the Assembly, Thimmappa said that he had taken the decision in consideration of the Chief Minister’s statement in the house. 

A TV grab from Kannada news channel TV9 Kannada, showing the watch on Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa's table.

Siddaramaiah had earlier repeated before the house, his explanation for possession the watch: that his friend of 30 years, a Dubai-based doctor had gifted the watch to him.

The opposition parties remained dissatisfied with the answer that the Chief Minister gave, and continued to raise slogans demanding a CBI inquiry. The Speaker then adjourned the house until 11 am on Thursday.

Addressing the media after the house was adjourned, Leader of the Opposition and former CM Jagadish Shettar of the BJP demanded that the speaker should have let the opposition parties have a say on the issue. “He could have allowed us to speak before declaring that the watch was the property of the Legislature,” he said, adding that there would be no let up on the demand for a CBI investigation.

Since last week of January, the watch controversy has been at the centre of debate in the state. Watch-gate has seen many twists and turns which eventually led the CM to announce that he will declare it as a public asset.

Similar scenes were witnessed in the Legislative Council too where the Chairman adjourned the house after members of the house rushed to the well.