Opposition defeats Bill

BANGALORE: On the last day of the ongoing legislature session, the BJP suffered a major embarrassment with the Opposition parties defeating a Bill in the Assembly on Friday.The Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Second Amendment) Bill, 2011, was defeated by one vote when the Congress pressed for division after its demand for deferring the issue to the next session was turned down by Muzrai Minister Dr V S Acharya who piloted the Bill.While 34 members voted against the Bill, 33 ruling party members supported the Bill.When Acharya moved the Bill for consideration, Leader of Opposition in Assembly Siddaramaiah, his deputy T B Jayachandra and Dr H C Mahadevappa requested the government not to push through the Bill as they wanted a debate.Siddaramaiah said the government’s move to keep out temples attached to or managed by mutts out of the purview of the legislation and other amendments have farreaching consequences and needed to be looked into.