'Payoffs' issue: BJP disrupts Assembly proceedings again

The KarnatakaAssembly proceedings were disrupted for the second consecutiveday today, with the BJP continuing with its protest demanding a debate on the diary entries of alleged payoffs to Congress leaders.
As the BJP members resumed their protest from the Well whenthe House met for the day, Speaker K B Koliwad adjourned theproceedings and convened a meeting of floor leaders to resolve the issue, but it failed.
When the House reassembled after about half-an-hour, the BJP members continued with their protest. As his repeated requests for a smooth conduct of the proceedings went unheard, the Speaker adjourned the Assembly till Monday.

The Speaker had yesterday disallowed discussions over the issue relating to a diary, reportedly recovered by the Income Tax department from the residence of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's Parliamentary Secretary K Govindaraju.
The diary entries allegedly show a few acronyms, similar to the names of certain central Congress leaders, apart from Govindaraju's name, and amounts in crores of rupees mentioned against them,which were purportedly paid or received.
The Income Tax department had, in March 2016, conducted searches at the residence of Govindaraju, a Member of the state Legislative Council, and seized several documents. The diary is said to be one of the items seized by the department.

Earlier, sticking to the stand that there should be a debate on the issue, Leader of Opposition Jagadish Shettar requested the Chair to at least allow a time-bound discussion.

Hitting out at the BJP for disrupting the proceedings, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah claimed that the saffron party was not allowing the House to function as it was unable todigest the "popularity" of the budget presented by his government.
Referring to the Birla and Sahara diaries case, he said the Supreme Court had observed that a diary entry was inconclusive proof and the same could not be considered as evidence.Recently, a petition had also been dismissed on this ground, he added.

Pointing out that the Income Tax department was a quasi-judicial body, Siddaramaiah said the matter cannot be discussed in the Assembly.
"...They (BJP) are wasting the time of the House,they do not believe in the democratic system. Instead of a discussion on the budget, they are raising the issue of a fake diary. It is politically motivated, it is their conspiracy," he alleged.
Expressing its reservation over thedeadlock and House proceedings being disrupted, the JD(S) too demanded that a discussion on the budget be taken up and public issues be addressed.