Bangalore:
The new session of the legislative assembly saw several gods on Wednesday.
The legislators took the oath in the name of God - and whom they consider
God. First-time BJP member B Nagendra (Bellary district) solemnly took
oath in the name of mining lord G Janardhan Reddy. Followed K Nemiraj
Naik, also from Bellary district, who too gave godly status to Janardhan
Reddy.
These
two members swore their allegiance to the Constitution of India by invoking
the name of Reddy. Not to be outdone, M P Renukacharya (Honnali) and
B Suresh Gowda (Tumkur Rural) took oath in the name of chief minister
B S Yeddyurappa. Gowda also included the name of Siddaganga seer Sri
Shivakumar Swamiji.
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Taking
patriotism to a new high, K M Krishnamurthy (Congress) took oath in
the name of Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi.
For some
MLAs, the voters were their God. These include Katta Subramanya Naidu,
B C Patil, M P Kumaraswamy, Lakshmi Narayana and Malikayya Guttedar.
Since
work is worship, Chandrakanth Bellad took oath in the name of the work
culture preached by Sharanas. Yeddyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai (who
were already sworn in by the governor Rameshwar Thakur) took oath as
MLAs in the name of God and farmers. Congress legislature party leader
Mallikarjun M Kharge took exception to this and said it was unconstitutional.
Protem Speaker K G Bopaiah said some MLAs
in the previous assembly had also done the same thing.
However,
Constitution efforts say this is not the rescribed format one oath.
The oath
format only should “swear in the name of God or solemnly affirm”.
No other usage is acceptable. In fact, it is a serious breach and amounts
to making their membership invalid, former chairman of the backward
classes commission Raviverma Kumar said.
Former
advocate general’ Narasimha Murthy said: “The Constitutional provision
can have varied, meanings. It only says MLAs should swear in the name
of God. And since’ the term God is not defined, it can be anything.”
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