Bengaluru: Introduction of a bill simplifying the procedure for removal of Lokayukta in the Karnataka assembly was on Thursday deferred following an objection from the opposition BJP and JDS.
When food and civil supplies Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao rose to table the bill, Opposition Leader Jagadish Shettar objected, saying it should be done in the presence of Chief Minister or the Law Minister.
Speaker Kagodu Thimappa then said the bill can be placed on the floor of the House in the presence of either Law Minister T B Jayachandra or Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The bill was sought to be introduced in the light of a raging row over an alleged bribery scandal that has hit the state's anti-graft ombudsman with growing clamour for his exit.
Facing allegations that it was soft-pedalling serious charges of corruption in the office of Lokayukta Y Bhaskar Rao with his son's name also linked to it, the government formulated The Karnataka Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
The government had in recent weeks been expressing its inability to remove Lokayukta despite the graft charges against his son who was allegedly part of an extortion racket in collusion with some officials of the institution.
In a concerted action in the recent legislature session, BJP and JDS had presented a petition signed by 57 MLAs to Speaker Kagodu Thimappa, requesting him to allow a motion for the removal of Rao, but in vain.
There has been growing pressure from Opposition parties and various organisations for removal of Rao and a CBI probe into the alleged racket. But an unfazed Lokayukta is brazening it out, saying he would quit if the charges are proved.
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