New Delhi: Demanding the ouster of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister KS Eshwarappa over his remark on the 'Bhagwa dhwaj' (saffron flag) becoming the national flag in future, Congress legislators decided to spend the night inside Karnataka Legislative Assembly as a mark of protest on Thursday.
Addressing mediapersons outside the Assembly, Leader of Opposition in the state, Siddaramaiah, slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Sangh Parivar of disrespecting the national flag and said that the Congress has decided to stage 'day-and-night' protests to take the issue to a ‘logical end’.
Pointing that the Governor, who is the constitutional head of state, should have intervened and given instructions for Eshwarappa's dismissal over his comments that amount to treason, Siddaramaiah, as quoted by news agency PTI, said, "The Chief Minister is also not taking action against Eshwarappa, the RSS is implementing its hidden agenda through Eshwarappa."
This comes even as protests by the party legislators rocked the proceedings in both Houses for the second consecutive day. To carry on with their agitation, the Congress members stayed back in the Assembly even after it was adjourned for the day.
Former chief minister BS Yediyurappa along with Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, after holding talks with Siddaramaiah in the assembly premises, said, “We tried to convince the opposition party leaders to withdraw their protest but they did not agree. We will speak to them tomorrow again.”
Meanwhile, refusing to resign for any reason, Eshwarappa said that he is a patriot who had gone to jail during the Emergency period.
"Let them protest, I won't budge," he said, demanding the resignation of state Congress chief DK Shivakumar accusing him and his party of allegedly misusing the national flag for protests.
Notably, on February 10, Minister Eshwarappa had said that may be not now, but in the future, the saffron flag will be hoisted at Red Fort and the flag could replace the tri-colour.
This led to a war of words with the Opposition demanding Eshwarappa to be booked on charges of sedition.
Calling the Congress’ stand anti-people, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that earlier too, overnight protests have taken place in the Assembly but they were on issues concerning the interest of the state, people and farmers. But this is a protest by misinterpreting a statement.
"There is nothing wrong in Eshwarappa's statement, there is nothing in his statement that is against law. As they (Congress) don't have any other issues they are doing this. For the first time without any reason overnight protest is being held, this is not the sign of a responsible opposition. They feel they will get political mileage out of it, but they are wrong," Bommai said, as quoted by PTI.
Bommai further lashed out at the grand-old party for playing politics at a time when the people and the government are working towards sorting out issues ailing the southern state and creating a conducive atmosphere for the students in schools and colleges, and maintain peace.
It is to be noted that the Chair in the Assembly on Wednesday had rejected the Congress' adjournment motion demanding the dismissal of Eshwarappa and sedition charges against him.