The Karnataka Legislative Assembly briefly descended into chaos on Tuesday after the Opposition BJP staged a dharna over Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s remarks against BS Yeddyurappa, in relation to the liquor ban.
The issue erupted when Siddaramaiah intervened during Question Hour to rule out BJP member CT Ravi’s demand for enforcing total prohibition in the state and claimed that the BJP chief ministerial candidate had earlier opposed the arrack ban when he was Deputy Chief Minister.
The CM said, “To tell you the truth, Yeddyurappa was against the arrack ban. It was only because of pressure from the then Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy that arrack was banned”, as reported by The Hindu.
Ravi did not take the CM’s response too kindly, as he promised to enforce prohibition when the BJP-JD(S) coalition government comes to power.
The remark triggered an uproar from the BJP workers who accused the CM of “trying to tarnish” their leader.
The heated exchange was followed by a dharna and the Speaker was forced to adjourn the House and reconvene only after speaking to BJP members.
BJP members demanded that the Speaker expunge the references made by Siddaramaiah.
They withdrew the dharna after the Speaker promised to examine any “unparliamentary references” made by the CM.