Belagavi:Dramatic scenes were witnessed at Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi, a border town 500km north of Bengaluru, on Thursday when a group of supporters of Women and Child Welfare Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar allegedly tried to manhandle BJP MLC and former BJP national general secretary C T Ravi accusing him of making an obscene remark against the minister.
Hebbalkar's supporters allegedly barged into the Suvarna Soudha crashing the security and tried to attack Ravi while he was returning after meeting opposition leader R Ashoka. Around 25 people have been taken into custody by the police. They also raised slogans against Ravi. The marshalls who were on duty at the time of the incident protected Ravi from Hebbalkar’s supporters and took him away.
A few minutes earlier, Ravi's car was also attacked outside the Suvarna Vidhan Soudha. The incident was triggered after Hebbalkar accused Ravi of making an obscene remark against her during a protest in the Legislative Council over Union Minister Amit Shah's statement about Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and filed a complaint with Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti seeking action against the latter. Horatti is expected to give his ruling later in the day.
Sources said that after the house was adjourned in the morning, Ravi and Hebbalkar engaged in an argument over a remark by Ravi against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. During the argument, Ravi allegedly made derogatory remarks against the lone woman minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet. Siddaramaiah also condemned the remarks saying they attract criminal proceedings.