Gandhinagar/Bangalore, March 21: It was a day of triple shock for the BJP, which lost its Karnataka chief minister Sadananda Gowda's Lok Sabha seat in the bypoll, lost the Mansa Assembly seat in Gujarat after 22 years and lost face over another porngate charge.
After the Karnataka porngate scandal, two BJP MLAs from Gujarat have now come under scanner for allegedly watching obscene pictures on a tablet during the Assembly proceedings here.
Legislators Shankar Chaudhury and Jetha Bharwad were yesterday seen spending time on their tablets during the Houseproceedings here and allegations are that they were viewing obscene pics of women.
After the Karnataka porngate scandal, two BJP MLAs from Gujarat have now come under scanner for allegedly watching obscene pictures on a tablet during the Assembly proceedings here.
Legislators Shankar Chaudhury and Jetha Bharwad were yesterday seen spending time on their tablets during the Houseproceedings here and allegations are that they were viewing obscene pics of women.
A journalist of vernacular newspaper who found out this thing complained to the Speaker about the incident.
"Chaudhary showed his tab to another MLA Bharwad. First they started by watching the pictures of Swami Vivekananda, then cartoons and then pics of women," Senior journalist Janak Dave said.
"I thought that now Gujarat MLAs are following Karnataka MLAs. I went to Speaker's (Ganpat Parmar) chamber and complained about it to his PA, who informed the Speaker and the viewing was stopped," Dave said.
The BJP has however denied the charges. Party's state unit general secretary Vijay Rupani said the allegations are false and cooked up at the instance of Congress.
"I believe that they were not watching such material on the tablet," Rupani told reporters.
"However, if required we will inquire about the incident," he further said.
Shankar Chaudhary, the BJP MLA accused of watching porn, claimed he had never watched porn in his life.
Chaudhary said, the charge was baseless and was being made in order to politically malign him.
"The Assembly proceedings are available on cctv. I challenge the opposition to watch cctv and if they find me watching porn, I am ready to face any punishment. I don't have any such obscene clips in my iPad."
In the recently held byelections, the BJP was defeated by Congress by a margin of 8,998 votes in the Mansa assembly bypoll. Congress annexed this seat after a gap of 22 years.
Congress candidate Babuji Thakore defeated BJP's D D Patel in the constituency which has remained loyal to BJP since 1995.
Though the term of the MLA from this seat will be just about eight months, the elections was made a prestige issue by both the parties as this was the last important poll before the Assembly elections to be held in December this year.
Congress has termed the victory as significant as the Mansa assembly segment falls under Gandhinagar, the seat of power of the Modi government.
"This is a victory of team Congress. This victory just 20 kms from where Narendra Modi rules has proven that people have realised that the so called claim of progress by his government is not true. This result will definitely have an impact on the state assembly elections", Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.
Trying to put a brave face after the drubbing, BJP alleged that the Congress workers have gone berserk even as they have won just a single seat.
"We accept the mandate of the people from Mansa. It seems that the Congress workers have lost balance just by one win and turned unruly after the victory," said BJP state unit president R C Faldu.
Mansa has been represented by the BJP from 1995, but the margin of victory has remained slender for the party. In 2007, Mangaldas Patel had defeated Thakore by 3000 votes.
This byelection was necessitated following the death of former Speaker Mangaldas Patel.
In Karnataka, the BJP lost the prestigious Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha seat, vacated by chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda, to Congress by a margin of nearly 45,000 votes. Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa did not campaign in the byelection.
Yeddyurappa, who is presently sulking with his supporter MLAs and MPs, said, he would visit Delhi today to meet party chief Nitin Gadkari.
Asked when his wish to become chief minister again will be fulfilled, Yeddyurappa said: "It all depends on the high command."
Former minister and Congress candidate K Jayaprakash Hegde defeated BJP's V Sunil Kumar by 45,724 votes while JDS which had entered the poll fray with tall claims finished a poor third as its nominee Bojegowda secured 72,080 votes.
Hegde polled 3,98,723 votes as against 3,52,999 votes by Sunil Kumar in the March 18 bypoll, caused by the resignation of Gowda after he became Chief Minister succeeding B S Yeddyurappa, who is now leading a revolt against him.
Yeddyurappa, who quit as Chief Minister after he was asked by the party central leadership to do so in the wake of his indictment in the Lokayukta report on illegal mining, is demanding his reinstatement after the High Court gave him a clean chit recently.
The defeat could not have come at a much worse time for BJP which is struggling to deal with heightened dissidence unleashed by Yeddyurappa.
The Congress has re-established its hold in the constituency that spread across parts of coastal and Malnad regions, which had remained a strong bastion of BJP in the last four elections.
Late Srikantappa, a Vokkalinga leader, had won thrice and after re-alignment of the constituency, the seat was held by Sadananda Gowda in 2009 election.
Jubilation erupted in Congress following Hegde's victory. This is the second defeat for BJP in the bye-elections held in the state since November.
BJP rebel candidate B Sreeramulu won the Bellary assembly seat, pushing the ruling party to third place in the bypoll held in November last year.
Yeddyurappa, who is presently sulking with his supporter MLAs and MPs, said, he would visit Delhi today to meet party chief Nitin Gadkari.
Asked when his wish to become chief minister again will be fulfilled, Yeddyurappa said: “It all depends on the high command.”
Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ganpat Basava said the House Privileges Committee consisting of members from both sides will go into the episode.
Basava said, BJP MLA shankar Chaudhary's iPad has been taken away by the Assembly secretary and has been sent to Gujarat Forensic Science Laboratory for test.
Any action against the MLAs will be taken only after we get the Committe's report, the Speaker said.
"Chaudhary showed his tab to another MLA Bharwad. First they started by watching the pictures of Swami Vivekananda, then cartoons and then pics of women," Senior journalist Janak Dave said.
"I thought that now Gujarat MLAs are following Karnataka MLAs. I went to Speaker's (Ganpat Parmar) chamber and complained about it to his PA, who informed the Speaker and the viewing was stopped," Dave said.
The BJP has however denied the charges. Party's state unit general secretary Vijay Rupani said the allegations are false and cooked up at the instance of Congress.
"I believe that they were not watching such material on the tablet," Rupani told reporters.
"However, if required we will inquire about the incident," he further said.
Shankar Chaudhary, the BJP MLA accused of watching porn, claimed he had never watched porn in his life.
Chaudhary said, the charge was baseless and was being made in order to politically malign him.
"The Assembly proceedings are available on cctv. I challenge the opposition to watch cctv and if they find me watching porn, I am ready to face any punishment. I don't have any such obscene clips in my iPad."
In the recently held byelections, the BJP was defeated by Congress by a margin of 8,998 votes in the Mansa assembly bypoll. Congress annexed this seat after a gap of 22 years.
Congress candidate Babuji Thakore defeated BJP's D D Patel in the constituency which has remained loyal to BJP since 1995.
Though the term of the MLA from this seat will be just about eight months, the elections was made a prestige issue by both the parties as this was the last important poll before the Assembly elections to be held in December this year.
Congress has termed the victory as significant as the Mansa assembly segment falls under Gandhinagar, the seat of power of the Modi government.
"This is a victory of team Congress. This victory just 20 kms from where Narendra Modi rules has proven that people have realised that the so called claim of progress by his government is not true. This result will definitely have an impact on the state assembly elections", Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.
Trying to put a brave face after the drubbing, BJP alleged that the Congress workers have gone berserk even as they have won just a single seat.
"We accept the mandate of the people from Mansa. It seems that the Congress workers have lost balance just by one win and turned unruly after the victory," said BJP state unit president R C Faldu.
Mansa has been represented by the BJP from 1995, but the margin of victory has remained slender for the party. In 2007, Mangaldas Patel had defeated Thakore by 3000 votes.
This byelection was necessitated following the death of former Speaker Mangaldas Patel.
In Karnataka, the BJP lost the prestigious Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha seat, vacated by chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda, to Congress by a margin of nearly 45,000 votes. Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa did not campaign in the byelection.
Yeddyurappa, who is presently sulking with his supporter MLAs and MPs, said, he would visit Delhi today to meet party chief Nitin Gadkari.
Asked when his wish to become chief minister again will be fulfilled, Yeddyurappa said: "It all depends on the high command."
Former minister and Congress candidate K Jayaprakash Hegde defeated BJP's V Sunil Kumar by 45,724 votes while JDS which had entered the poll fray with tall claims finished a poor third as its nominee Bojegowda secured 72,080 votes.
Hegde polled 3,98,723 votes as against 3,52,999 votes by Sunil Kumar in the March 18 bypoll, caused by the resignation of Gowda after he became Chief Minister succeeding B S Yeddyurappa, who is now leading a revolt against him.
Yeddyurappa, who quit as Chief Minister after he was asked by the party central leadership to do so in the wake of his indictment in the Lokayukta report on illegal mining, is demanding his reinstatement after the High Court gave him a clean chit recently.
The defeat could not have come at a much worse time for BJP which is struggling to deal with heightened dissidence unleashed by Yeddyurappa.
The Congress has re-established its hold in the constituency that spread across parts of coastal and Malnad regions, which had remained a strong bastion of BJP in the last four elections.
Late Srikantappa, a Vokkalinga leader, had won thrice and after re-alignment of the constituency, the seat was held by Sadananda Gowda in 2009 election.
Jubilation erupted in Congress following Hegde's victory. This is the second defeat for BJP in the bye-elections held in the state since November.
BJP rebel candidate B Sreeramulu won the Bellary assembly seat, pushing the ruling party to third place in the bypoll held in November last year.
Yeddyurappa, who is presently sulking with his supporter MLAs and MPs, said, he would visit Delhi today to meet party chief Nitin Gadkari.
Asked when his wish to become chief minister again will be fulfilled, Yeddyurappa said: “It all depends on the high command.”
Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ganpat Basava said the House Privileges Committee consisting of members from both sides will go into the episode.
Basava said, BJP MLA shankar Chaudhary's iPad has been taken away by the Assembly secretary and has been sent to Gujarat Forensic Science Laboratory for test.
Any action against the MLAs will be taken only after we get the Committe's report, the Speaker said.
