by reciprocal arrangement with Star of Mysore

Belgaum, Sep 25: The Vidhana Soudha has moved out of Bangalore for the first time in its history for the five-day special session of the State Legislature which began this afternoon in this city of Belgaum, located on the north-western Karnataka-Maharashtra border.

The Assembly session is being held at the Dr. Jeerage Hall of Jawaharalal Nehru Medical College (run by KLE Society) while the Council has met at the special pandal erected hear the Department of Anatomy.

The session began amidst noisy scenes as soon as the Speaker Krishna occupied his seat at 12.38 pm with four members of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES) members, donning saffron turbans, raising slogans demanding merger of Belgaum with Maharashtra.

When other members including Vatal Nagaraj (Kannada Chaluvali member) countered their protest, the MES members were heard shouting: "Adhyaksh Maharaj, nahin chalegi ye dadagiri."

Vatal Nagaraj rushed towards the MES members waving a black banner with the legend of Karnataka Bandh planned for Oct. 4 to protest against the pro-Maharashtra policy of Central Government.

Vatal continued waving the banner standing amidst the slogan-shouting MES members.

Speaker Krishna, who welcomed the members amidst the din, began obituary references asking the members to pay homage to Shehnai maestro Bis-millah Khan, folklorist S.K. Kareem Khan, Chairman of the first Backward Classes Commission and former Minister L.G. Havanur, former legislator B.K. Puttaiah (Mysore), social worker Mahadevi Thayi and also to the victims of Malegaon bomb blasts.

As the slogan-shouting continued, the members of Congress, BJP and JD(S) protested against the MES members for disturbing the proceedings.

Krishna repeatedly appealed to the members to co-operate with him in the smooth conduct of proceedings. He told them not to behave in an improper manner when the House was paying tributes to the eminent personalities who made sacrifices for the welfare of the nation and the State.

He advised the MES members to return to their seats and the issue raised by them could be taken up later.

At one stage, the Speaker warned the protesting MES members saying that he would be forced to ask them to withdraw from the House.

As peace returned to the House after sometime, the Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy paid his tribute to the departed souls followed by N. Dharam Singh, Leader of Opposition.