Cong MLA skips oath, waiting for party chief stuck in traffic

Newly-elected Congress legislator from Hangal, Srinivas Mane, did not take oath as MLA on Thursday as he insisted on waiting for his party president D K Shivakumar, who showed up late, while Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri refused to wait any longer.

Kageri, who administered the oath to newly-elected Sindgi BJP MLA Ramesh Bhusnur, left the venue at Vidhana Soudha, after some time as Mane who had gone out, minutes ahead of his swearing-in, to get Shivakumar, insisting that he would take oath in the presence of the KPCC President, got late.

Noting that it was the wish of the party workers that he should take oath in the presence of Shivakumar, who got late due to rain and traffic, Mane said, ”I requested the Speaker to wait for some time, but he said that can’t be done and went ahead with the programme.. We must listen to the Speaker. I’m not disappointed. Another date will be fixed for my oath-taking.” On his arrival, Shivakumar, Mane and other Congress leaders waited at the Speaker’s office, expecting that Kageri would come back and administer the oath.

Shivakumar even requested by personally telephoning Kageri, who told him that he has prior commitment and Mane’s swearing-in will be scheduled on some other day after discussion.

Blaming traffic for his late arrival, Shivakumar speaking to reporters, tried to project the Speaker’s refusal to come back and administer oath to Mane today itself, as a fallout of the BJP’s defeat in Hangal.

”He could have waited for five minutes. There was no urgency. We have used the Assembly itself for all kinds of things….We respect the Speaker’s chair, he could have come back for five minutes…..this isn’t good for democracy,” he said.

In a bittersweet result for the ruling BJP, the saffron party had won the Sindgi assembly segment, but lost the Hangal seat to Congress, in the bypolls to two constituencies held on October 30.

The BJP’s loss in Hangal is also seen as a ”setback” to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, as it is the neighbouring constituency to his Shiggaon assembly segment in Haveri district, where he had extensively campaigned.