House panel or SIT? Meet today

Bengaluru: Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar has decided to convene a meeting of all floor leaders on Wednesday to discuss the  BJP's demand for a House committee to examine the audio tape allegedly exposing their party chief, B S Yeddyurappa's gameplan to topple the coalition government, instead of the matter being handed over to the Special Investigation Team as announced by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.

The Speaker  informed the assembly of his decision after the issue once again came up for discussion in the House on Tuesday. While the BJP urged him to reconsider his support for a SIT probe into the issue, both former Chief  Siddaramaiah and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy objected, pointing out that no criminal action could be taken on the basis of an inquiry by a House committee or a judicial probe.

 BJP member, J Madhuswamy, however, said he had no faith in the police as it "concocted facts." Claiming that at least 60 per cent of MLAs had been harassed by the police, Mr Madhuswamy said handing over the present case to it would only embolden it more.

Moreover , asking the SIT to look into the tape issue was  not  legally permissible, he argued.

“If the issue goes to court, we will obtain a stay. To begin with, there should be a complainant and being the Speaker, you cannot act as one. Besides, the SIT  cannot summon legislators and ask them to give statements. An MLA can refuse to appear before it. So I  feel, it would be best for a House committee to look into the matter,'' he added.

Mr Suresh Kumar of the BJP said the Assembly was the people's court, which had already absolved the Speaker of any wrongdoing.

His reference was to a mention in the tape that Mr Ramesh Kumar had been bought by the BJP for Rs 50 crore.  

But  Ministers R V Deshpande and Krishna Byre Gowda strongly defended the idea of the SIT looking into the authenticity of the controversial tape, saying it could be relied on as there were a lot of checks and balances in a democracy.