Karnataka assembly adjourned to Monday as Congress demands minister ousting

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Assembly has been adjourned until Monday following an intensifying of the Congress party's demand to remove minister K.S Eshwarappa over his comments claiming that one day a saffron flag would be hoisted in the Red Fort.

Members of the Congress raised slogans during the Question Hour demanding Eshwarappa's removal. This followed an all-night protest held by Congress MLA's who spent the whole night inside the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Council, escalating demand that the minister be booked for sedition.

The Chief Minister appealed to the Speaker to give an opportunity to House to function normally. However, Congress legislators continued their sloganeering demanding expulsion of Eshwarappa for his 'Bhagwa Dhwaj' remark. Finally, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings of the house till Monday morning.

"People used to laugh at one point when we said Ram Mandir will be constructed in Ayodhya, aren't we constructing it now? In the same way some time in the future, after 100 or 200 or 500 years Bhagwa dhwaj may become the national flag. I don't know," the Minister of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj had told reporters earlier this week, triggering the controversy.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had said that the controversy was manufactured by the Congress purely for political gain and that the remakes made by the minister were 'selectively quoted' and taken out of context. Bommai on Wednesday accused Congress of violating the flag code in the Assembly. The Chief Minister charged that Congress failed to act as a responsible Opposition party in the Karnataka Assembly.

"We do not want Eshwarappa's resignation but his dismissal. CM Bommai and governor Thaawarchand Gehlot should dismiss him. That is our demand," state party secretary DK Shivakumar said on Friday outside the assembly where he and his party leaders spent the night.

Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah on Thursday accused the BJP and Sangh Parivar of disrespecting the national flag, and said the Congress decided to stage 'day-and-night' protests, to take the issue to a "logical end". Noting that the Governor, who is the constitutional head, should have intervened and given instructions for Eshwarappa's dismissal, as his "comments amount to treason", he said, "the chief minister is also not taking action against Eshwarappa, the RSS is implementing its hidden agenda through Eshwarappa."