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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Dharwad staged protest on Tuesday demanding the resignation of Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy. They also demanded formation of a BJP government in Karnataka.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, in the national capital Delhi, the Congress staged a walkout in Lok Sabha after accusing the BJP of indulging in
"politics of poaching" in Karnataka, a charge denied by the ruling party at the Centre.
The Congress tried to raise the issue in Lok Sabha during the Zero Hour, but was disallowed by Speaker Om Birla, who said the matter was discussed in the House on Monday with a response from Deputy Leader of House Rajnath Singh.
Birla said the Congress had given an adjournment motion to discuss the Karnataka issue, which he has disallowed. With the Speaker refusing to relent, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, said the BJP was targeting the Karnataka government, which is on a brink of
collapse after the Congress, JD(S) and some independent MLAs tendered their resignations.
Hitting back, Singh said the Karnataka issue was an internal matter of the Congress.
"The Congress cannot get its House in order and is disrupting the Lower House," Singh said.
Prior to that Congress members also entered the Well and raised slogans. Congress members accused the ruling party of throttling
democracy.
Chowdhury said, "The politics of poaching should be stopped. The politics of targeting should be stopped. Today it is Karnataka and tomorrow it will be Madhya Pradesh,"
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi also walked out and were followed by DMK members. BSP MP Danish Ali also accused the government of "murdering" democracy.
So far 14 MLAs have resigned in Karnataka, which includes 11 from the Congress and three from the JD(S).If accepted, the coalition government's strength in the assembly would be reduced to 102 minus the Speaker against the halfway mark of 113. The BJP's strength as of now stands at 107.
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