Karnataka MLA evicted from Assembly for making lewd gestures at Speaker

Chaotic scenes were witnessed on Monday in the Karnataka Assembly with a ruling Congress MLA engaging in an altercation with the Speaker. Bengaluru: Chaotic scenes were witnessed on Monday in the Karnataka Assembly with a ruling Congress MLA engaging in an altercation with the Speaker and staging a protest in the well of the House along with two JDS members, culminating in the eviction of one of them. Speaker Kagodu Thimappa ordered for JDS MLA Manjunath Gowda’s eviction by marshals after he made lewd gestures and engaged in a verbal bout with him over drinking water problem in Chikkaballapur and Kolar districts. The legislators from Chikkaballapur and Kolar, who raised a hue and cry over Chief Minister Siddaramaiah excluding Yettinahole water project from his budget proposals, expressed anger over Thimappa’s attempt to “prevent” senior Congress leader Ramesh Kumar from raising the matter. Tersely reacting to Swamy’s remarks, Kumar asked, “Then why has the government included the ongoing Singatalur lift irrigation project in the budget?” As Kumar continued to speak about people’s anger about government’s apathy, the Speaker said, “Kumar, stop giving lecture.