The Karnataka Assembly witnessed dramatic scenes on Wednesday, July 19, as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators tore copies of the bills passed and hurled them at Deputy Speaker Rudrappa Lamani, who was presiding over the House proceedings. Ten BJP MLAs were suspended by the Deputy Speaker till Friday.
The unrest unfolded when BJP MLAs CN Ashwath Narayan, V Sunil Kumar, R Ashok, Araga Jnanendra, Vedavyas Kamath, Yashpal Suvarna, Arvind Bellad, Dheeraj Muniraj, Umanath Kotian, and Bharat Shetty, expressed their dissent by staging a protest at the well of the House. The protest was in response to the Congress government's decision to deploy IAS officers to welcome leaders from various opposition parties during a meeting held in Bengaluru over the last two days.
Resuming the session in the afternoon, Assembly Speaker UT Khader expressed his strong disapproval of the MLAs' actions, stating that they were causing significant harm to the people of the state, and betraying the trust placed in them by their constituents. He said that their behaviour was not only damaging the reputation of the Assembly but also bringing a black spot to it.
Following the dismissal of the ten BJP MLAs, the remaining BJP MLAs walked out of the Assembly. Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs followed suit, protesting against the suspension of the ten BJP MLAs.
JD(S) leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy hit out against the Congress government over the dismissal of BJP MLAs. “Both JD(S) and BJP have protested together today. This is unjust of the government and is an attack against our democracy. What the Congress did is wrong,” HD Kumaraswamy told reporters following the Assembly session.