The Legislative Council was adjourned for the second day in a row on Wednesday after morning rifts by the BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) over remarks about the governor and fresh unrest in the afternoon after Leader of the Opposition Chalavadi Narayanaswamy tore up the House’s rule book.
In the morning, the opposition objected to the opening of the debate on the Governor’s address and demanded an apology from Speaker of the House NS Boseraju for his critical statements on the Governor’s address. Deputies entered the well of the Chamber and stopped the proceedings.
For over an hour, there were heated exchanges of views between the ministries and the opposition regarding the rules of the House and constitutional provisions. Despite a meeting called by Speaker Basavaraj Horatti with leaders from both the ruling party and the opposition, the impasse remained unresolved.
Word fight
The Opposition also rejected the Speaker’s offer to expunge Mr. Boseraj’s remarks from the record, insisting that any such move must be preceded by an apology. As tensions escalated, a verbal spat broke out between Mr Narayanaswamy and Congress member BK Hariprasad, further adding to the mess.
Congress member Ramesh Babu suggested the expulsion of members who obstructed the proceedings, prompting BJP members to respond that those who disrespected the governor should also be expelled. The Speaker was eventually forced to adjourn the House.
When the House reconvened after the lunch break, Opposition members re-entered the well and continued their protest, despite Mr Horatti’s appeals and moved to Question Time.
Rule book torn up
Objecting to this, Mr. Narayanaswamy said it was not advisable to do business until the matter was resolved. He questioned the relevance of the rules in case the proceedings were not conducted in an orderly manner, tore up a copy of the Rules of Procedure and Rules of Procedure of the Legislative Council and threw them on the floor of the House.
Members of the Congress strongly protested this and accused the Leader of the Opposition of showing disrespect to the Speaker. They raised slogans against him and demanded that he apologize. Some urged the chairman to issue a ruling to expel him.
The Speaker, who intervened, said the rule book was as essential to the functioning of the House as the Constitution and told Mr Narayanaswamy that he had made a mistake. He asked the Leader of the Opposition to express regret for his behaviour.
Mr. Narayanaswamy insisted that he was only protesting the manner in which the proceedings were conducted and claimed that he had not offended the chairman. However, members of the ruling party continued to shout slogans, forcing Mr. Horatti to adjourn the House for some time. As the uproar intensified even after the House reconvened, Mr. Horatti adjourned the session until Thursday.
Published – 28 Jan 2026 20:34 IST
