Bengaluru: All the political parties in Karnataka have gone on protest mode, where Congress, BJP and JD(S) have organised protests against each other.
Congress Rally Held
The ongoing Assembly Session could not conduct any business on Tuesday, as the ruling Congress organised a massive rally protesting against the Union Government replacing MGNREGA with VB G-RAM-G and amending the guidelines. At the same time, the opposition BJP and JD(S) also organised protests, seeking removal of Legislative Council member B K Hariprasad for disrespecting the Governor during his address to the joint legislature and resignation of the Excise Minister R B Thimmapur, whose name figured in the bribery scam.
The Congress organised a massive `Raj Bhavan Chalo' rally at the Freedom park, where the AICC General Secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala participated. The Congress leaders came down heavily on the Union government, stating that the Centre was killing the program, which was aimed at providing jobs to poor in rural areas.
Police Detain Protesters
After the rally meeting, the Congress protesters tried to march to Raj Bhavan and stage a protest there also, urging the Governor to impress upon the Centre to withdraw the amended bill. However, the police, citing the traffic as well as law and order situation, stopped the Congress workers at Maharani college and took them to custody.
Meanwhile, the BJP and JD(S) legislators staged a protest in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue inside Vidhana Soudha premises. They were urging the government to dismiss B K Hariprasad from the Legislative Council membership for disrespecting the Governor.
Excise Scam Angle
On Jan 22, when the Governor addressed the Joint Legislator, where he refused to read the speech prepared by the government and just finished his address in one minute, the Congress members, especially B K Hariprasad tried to stop him from going out of the Vidhana Soudha. B K Hariprasad spoke to the Governor in a raised voice and the BJP members have been seeking dismissal of Hariprasad from Legislative Council since then.
Meanwhile, the Excise Minister R B Thimmapur's name has been prominently figured in a scam of bribery, where a Excise DC was caught red handed by the Lokayukta police while receiving ₹ 25 lakh bribery for issuing a license for a micro brewery.
During the interrogation, the officer had revealed that the money was part of ₹ 1.5 crore bribe, where it had to be shared with the minister also. Meanwhile, an audio conversation between the officers and R B Thimmapur's son has also gone viral.
The opposition are now seeking resignation of the minnister.
