Congress demands Speaker's head

Congress on Friday demanded the resignation of Karnataka Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah in the wake of the Supreme Court passing “strictures” against him on the issue of disqualification of five independent MLAs.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Siddaramaiah said the apex court has passed “strictures” and “very serious observations” against the Speaker. It had held that Bopaiah disqualified the five independents to save the BJP government during the trust vote in October 2010, he told reporters here.

“The Speaker has brought down the dignity of the office and its sanctity has taken a beating. He (Bopaiah) is biased and should immediately resign,” Siddaramaiah said. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court had held that the Bopaiah had acted in “great haste” to ensure that the trust vote did not go against the then Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa. Asked if Congress would “boycott” the Speaker in the session in case he does not quit, Siddaramaiah said, “If we did so, media will write that we (the Congress) did not allow the House to function.” But he hastened to add that the issue would be considered seriously and discussed in the Congress Legislature Party meeting prior to the session and opposition JD(S) would also be consulted for floor coordination.