Legislative Council chairman Pratap Chandra Shetty on Wednesday said he will consider the Opposition Congress and JD(S) members’ demand to refer the issue of sloganeering against freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy by BJP spokesperson and MLC N. Ravi Kumar to the Ethics Committee headed by the deputy chairman.
Following this, the Opposition members, who had continued dharna in the well of House demanding an apology from Mr. Kumar, withdrew their protest.
Earlier, although Mr. Kumar was given an opportunity to clarify his stand and apologise for his remark that Mr. Doreswamy should be “ashamed of his views on Prime Minister Narendra Modi”, he insisted that he would not apologise “to a person who had called V.D. Savarkar a coward”.
At this point, Opposition leader S.R. Patil submitted his plea seeking that the issue be referred to the Ethics Committee of the House. “I will examine the issue and consider referring it to the Ethics Committee,” Mr. Shetty said in response.
Opposing the chairman’s decision, BJP leader Kota Srinivas Poojary insisted that the issue should not be referred to the committee. He was seconded by other BJP members. However, the chairman said he would consider referring the issue to the committee.
