Bengaluru: The State Government yesterday came under severe attack from the Opposition BJP in both Houses of the Legislature over two public brawls involving Congress functionaries.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar, who sought to move an adjournment motion in this regard, described the State Government as “a goonda sarkar” and accused it of trying to protect Congress MLA N.A. Haris’ rowdy son, Mohammed Haris Nalapad, who brutally beat a youth at a pub last Saturday.

The second incident involved a Congress worker, Narayanaswamy, who reportedly threatened to set a BBMP office afire in K.R. Puram. He even threw petrol at the office shelves and warned the officers that he would burn the files.

Raising both the cases, Shettar said that incidents of rowdy behaviour by Congress workers were reported in the media on a day-to-day basis. “The CM or the Home Minister is not controlling their MLAs and their henchmen and the rowdy elements are taking advantage of the situation. While Nalapad has assaulted an innocent person as he has the backing of his MLA father, Narayanaswamy has the backing of Congress MLA Bhyrathi Basavaraju,” Shettar said.

Training his guns on CM Siddharamaiah, the BJP leader said that it was Siddharamaiah who appointed Narayanaswamy to the Water Board and now he is forcing officials to provide legal sanctity to an illegal land deal.

Regarding how the Police gave VIP treatment to assault accused Haris Nalapad, Shettar said, “Police initially registered cases under irrelevant and insignificant IPC Sections against Haris. Section 307 (attempted murder) was invoked only after pressure mounted,” he said.

Ministers K.J. George, R. Roshan Baig and U.T. Khader tried to defend the Government, leading to a commotion in the House. Shettar claimed the Police were not given a free hand to deal with such cases. Haris Nalapad was involved in violent brawls in the past, too, but the cases were hushed up, he added.

“The Home Minister (Ramalinga Reddy) recently said those taking the law into their hands will be booked under the Goonda Act. Why hasn’t he included Haris Nalapad on the goonda list,” the former Chief Minister asked. He claimed that Muniraju, another Congress worker from K.R. Puram, had assaulted a BJP worker.

In the Legislative Council, the Opposition demanded that Mohammed Nalapad be booked under the Goonda Act. The Leader of the Opposition in the Council, K.S. Eshwarappa, alleged Police inaction “owing to external pressure.”

“It is unfortunate that instead of nabbing the accused, the Police had booked a case against the victim who was seriously injured in the incident. It is palpable that the law and order machinery in Karnataka has become paralysed under Congress rule,”   he said.

Commenting on Congress leader Narayanaswamy pouring petrol at BBMP office, Eshwarappa said the leaders of ruling Congress were unleashing terror on bureaucrats. Government officials are working under a suffocating atmosphere under the Congress rule, he added.

‘Action as per law’

Replying to the charges, both Chief Minister Siddharamaiah and Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy said action had been taken against Haris Nalapad as per the law. “The law will take its own course. The Government will not interfere in such cases. Make it an issue is not right,” Siddharamaiah said.

After hearing the speeches of Opposition leaders where the Government was accused of shielding rowdy elements, Siddharamaiah reportedly lashed out at Congress MLAs for not controlling their supporters. He blamed them for bringing disrepute to the party. Sources said that when Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy tried to intervene, the CM lashed out at him too.

Meanwhile, sources said that the Government is planning to transfer many senior Police officers including Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Sunil Kumar, Additional Commissioner Hithendra and Southern Range IGP Vipul Kumar.