Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's life size portrait was unveiled inside the Assembly chamber at the 'Suvarna Vidhana Soudha' in Belagavi, along with several national icons, drawing criticism from opposition Congress, which alleged that it was a unilateral decision, keeping them in the dark (Pic/PTI)

The portraits of Swami Vivekananda, Subash Chandra Bose, B R Ambedkar, Basaveshwara, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Savarkar were unveiled by Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, inside the Assembly chamber, just before the commencement of the 10-day winter session of the state legislature in this border district (Pic/Official Twitter handle of Karnataka Congress)

The Congress led by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah and party's state President D K Shivakumar staged a demonstration outside 'Suvarna Vidhana Soudha' holding pictures of several national and state icons like Kuvempu, Narayana Guru, Shishunala Sharif, Pandit Jwaharlal Nehru, Babu Jagjivan Ram among others (Pic/Official Twitter handle of Karnataka Congress)

Opposition leaders - including former chief minister and the current Leader of the Opposition, Siddaramaiah, were among those who staged a demonstration and sat outside the assembly on the steps to protest the ruling Basavaraj Bommai government's decision to unveil a portrait of Veer Savarkar in the assembly (Pic/Official Twitter handle of Karnataka Congress)

Stating that it is his party's demand that portraits of national leaders and social reformers should be installed in the Assembly and they are not protesting against any one portrait, Siddaramaiah said without any discussions or consultation unilaterally decisions have been taken to install certain portraits inside the House (Pic/Official Twitter handle of Karnataka Congress)

Noting that he neither had invitation nor any information regarding unveiling of the portraits including that of Savarkar, and only got to know about it through the media, Siddaramaiah said, "We are not opposed to installing any portraits, but the Assembly has to be taken into confidence" (Pic/Official Twitter handle of Karnataka Congress)