Bengaluru, 29 April

Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Speaker UT Khader, to consider the request to revoke the suspension of 18 BJP MLAs.

In separate letters addressed to the Chief Minister and the Speaker, the Governor expressed his "desire" that they uphold the basic tenets of democratic values in the State and revoke the suspension.

A BJP delegation, led by State Party President BY Vijayendra and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R Ashoka, had met the Governor at Raj Bhavan on Monday and submitted a memorandum. They termed the move “undemocratic and unconstitutional.”

On 21 March, 18 BJP MLAs were suspended for six months for showing “indiscipline” and “disrespecting” the Speaker. They were evicted from the Assembly by marshals.

The incident leading to the suspension occurred on the last day of the Assembly’s budget session, when BJP MLAs staged a massive protest. They were opposing the 4 per cent reservation for Muslims in public contracts and demanding a judicial probe into an alleged “honey-trap” attempt involving Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna.

During the protest inside the Assembly, some BJP legislators climbed onto the Speaker’s podium and surrounded his chair, while others hurled papers from the well of the House. Marshals had to intervene and forcibly evict the legislators.

The suspended MLAs include BJP Chief whip Doddanagouda Patil, former Deputy CM C N Ashwath Narayan, S R Vishwanath, B A Basavaraju, M R Patil, Channabasappa, B Suresh Gowda, Umanath Kotyan, Sharanu Salagar, Dr Shailendra Beldale, C K Ramamurthy, Yashpal Suvarna, B P Harish, Bharath Shetty, Dheeraj Muniraju, Chandru Lamani, Muniratna, and Basavaraj Mattimud.