BANGALORE: The Legislative Assembly on Thursday witnessed two ugly incidents, one involving the former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's close associate M. Mahadev, who nearly came to blows with Janata Dal (S) member G.T. Deve Gowda and the other involving a BJP member Renukacharya who openly threatened a Principal Secretary to Government who was seated in the officials' gallery.

The incidents came as a shock to most of the senior members. It was the Leader of the Opposition N. Dharam Singh and senior Congress members M. Mallikarjun Kharge and R.V. Deshpande who appealed to Speaker Krishna to adjourn the House for a while to defuse the situation. Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who was present when several suspended members of the Janata Dal (S) associated with the Siddaramaiah camp were in a rage, later expressed his shock over the open threats.

While the BJP member took on the official when the Speaker adjourned the House for a brief while following a commotion, it was the praise showered on Mr. Siddaramaiah by Vatal Nagaraj (Kannada Chaluvali) which triggered the second round of trouble. Mr. Siddaramaiah questioned the popularity of some Janata Dal (S) members hailing from the Mysore region and said they should be grateful to him for their rise in politics.

The observation of Mr. Siddaramaiah sent the Janata Dal (S) into a spin with those loyal to the Chief Minister charging at those loyal to the former Deputy Chief Minister.

Mr. Mahadev moved menacingly to assault Mr. Deve Gowda when the latter levelled serious charges against Mr. Siddaramaiah. Members of the BJP, Janata Dal (S) and the Congress prevented Mr. Mahadev from attacking Mr. Deve Gowda.

There was chaos in the House for a while and the Speaker adjourned the House for 10 minutes when members supporting Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Deve Gowda continued to accuse each other on several issues.

It was Mr. Nagaraj who had said that Mr. Mahadev, Mr. Deve Gowda, Minister for Housing D.T. Jayakumar and Mahadev Prasad (all JD-S) rose in politics under the shadow of Mr. Siddaramaiah. Immediately, Mr. Siddaramaiah got up and sought the Speaker's permission to clarify on Mr. Nagaraj's remark. He said: "Mr. Deve Gowda is unknown in Mysore district. The people of the district know who brought him into the political scene and how he was elected."

Mr. Siddaramaiah's remark irritated Mr. Deve Gowda, Mr. Jayakumar and the Janata Dal (S) members supporting the Government. "I brought him to the Janata Party in the early 1980s and he (Mr. Siddaramaiah) became the Deputy Chief Minister because of our support," Mr. Deve Gowda shouted.

Other members intervene

As both members continued shouting, Ramesh Kumar (Congress), Ministers B. Sriramulu and B. Nagaraj Shetty of the BJP, G.V. Sriram Reddy (CPI-M) and S. Rajendran (RPI) rushed to Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Mahadev and stopped further verbal confrontation.

Speaking to presspersons, Mr. Dharam Singh termed the incident "unfortunate" and questioned the Speaker's ability to control the proceedings in the House.

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