Bengaluru: Speaker UT Khader Wednesday sought to end a stand-off over governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot’s truncated address to the joint sitting of the legislature last week, appealing to members to stop sparring over the issue and allow the House to function.The opposition’s accusation that the govt was listening in on the governor’s phone conversations triggered an uproar that washed out the afternoon session. Prior to that, Khader had appealed for “peace”, saying prolonging the confrontation did little for the state. “The incidents during the governor’s address last Thursday and the developments thereafter have sent a wrong message to people,” Khader said. “I appeal to all members to introspect. Let’s not speak about this any longer. Let the House function smoothly.” But his appeal fell on deaf ears as the deadlock continued. The post-lunch session opened to fresh turbulence as BJP members renewed their demand for evidence to back law and parliamentary affairs minister HK Patil’s claim that the governor chose not to read the full speech after receiving calls from Union home minister Amit Shah and the BJP high command. “Patil has levelled serious accusations that could taint the image of Lok Bhavan, while it also suggests that the govt is tapping phone lines of the governor. The govt must place call records in the House to prove the minister’s allegation, or he must apologise,” R Ashoka, LoP, said. Aravind Bellad, deputy LoP, said the Indian Telegraph Act requires the state govt to obtain Union home ministry permission before tapping a telephone line. He insisted Patil should not continue as minister until the issue was resolved. But Patil refused to back down, saying: “BJP members are asking me to withdraw my allegation,” he said. “I say, why don’t they ask the Union ministry and the Lok Bhavan to deny it if they are not guilty. I too am waiting curiously for a response from the Union home ministry and Lok Bhavan.” Patil also alleged that the BJP-led govt at the Centre was using governors to target non-BJP state govts, especially southern states, and dared the opposition to seek an inquiry. He reiterated his charge that the governor had insulted the national anthem by leaving the House before it was played. Chief minister Siddaramaiah stepped in to defuse the confrontation, saying Patil had only drawn an inference and had not levelled a direct accusation. “Our govt has not tapped anybody’s telephone and we will never do it,” he said. “Patil had only made inferences to telephone calls. We will commission an enquiry if needed. Let us put an end to it,” Siddaramaiah said. He said Patil had not insulted the governor and, in fact, had seen Gehlot off. He, however, maintained that the governor had violated constitutional norms by not reading the full speech prepared by the govt. The debate then veered into an old flashpoint, with BJP’s S Suresh Kumar reading out a House record from Jan 6, 2011, stating Siddaramaiah, as LoP then, had asked governor HR Bharadwaj to stop his address to the joint session, following which the governor laid the speech on the table. Siddaramaiah countered that the circumstances were different then and that he had objected to the governor praising the then BJP govt. He recalled leading a padayatra against illegal mining. The House again erupted as BJP members alleged the present govt was “more corrupt”, citing Muda, Valmiki and other cases. The ruckus escalated further when BJP MLA G Janardhan Reddy accused labour minister Santosh Lad of involvement in illegal mining, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House.
