From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Mar 4: Congress member B K Sangamesh was suspended from the House for a week till March 12 for his 'misconduct' during the debate on ‘one nation, one election' in the State Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
State Assembly Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri took the decision to suspend Sangamesh for the week after the MLA removed his shirt during the dharna by Congress members in the House opposing a debate on the theme 'one nation-one election' initiated by the Speaker for two days from Thursday.
Sangamesh told reporters later that he removed his shirt to draw Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri's attention to false cases filed against him and his family members in the Bhadravathi constituency.
“My family and I are being targeted with false cases of attempt to murder and committing atrocities,” he said.
When the Speaker started reading his speech on 'one nation one poll', Congress members rushed into the well of the House and shouted slogans against Kageri.
Congress members demanded postponement of the discussion on the subject for the next session of the Assembly.
Though the Congress supported the debate in the Business Advisory Committee meeting of the House and had given names of 19 members to speak on the subject, it opposed at the last minute following a decision at the Congress Legislature Party meeting.
Chief minister B S Yediyurappa stoutly defended the speaker’s decision to hold the discussion on the matter and said frequent elections would affect the smooth functioning of the government.
Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri focused on many challenges before the country in conducting 'one nation, one election' which would save money, time and accelerate the economic growth of the country.
Elections were conducted at a time for the parliament and state assemblies from 1952 to 1967. In the 1970s onwards, state assemblies dissolved before the term and mid-term elections too held for Assemblies and Lok Sabha in the 1970s and 1980s onwards.
He quoted President Ram Nath Kovind and said "frequent elections not only impose a huge burden on human resources but also impede the development process due to the promulgation of the model code of conduct.”
He also referred to statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former president Pranab Mukherjee on the need for having one election.
Yediyurappa also favoured one poll for parliament and state assemblies to reduce expenditure and expedite economic growth.