Congress solely responsible for underdevelopment of north Karnataka, says ruling BJP
Belagavi, Dec 24: The Karnataka Legislative Assembly was on Friday adjourned sine die amid protest by the opposition Congress, accusing the BJP government of being "anti-north Karnataka", while demanding extension of the session for effective discussion on the issues concerning the northern districts.
The Congress members also accused the government of stopping Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah from participating in the debate on north Karnataka issues, citing limitation of time, and urged that the session be extended.
The House was adjourned as per schedule, with Water Resources Minister Govind Karjol responding to the discussion on behalf of the government on issues concerning North Karnataka, amid din.
Karjol accused the Congress of being "irresponsible" and called it "unworthy opposition".
He also held Congress solely responsible for the underdevelopment of the northern districts, and fearing that they would be exposed they were disrupting his reply on behalf of the government to the discussion on north Karnataka issues.
"They (Congress) should be ashamed...they are only indulging in politics. Our government is committed to the all round development of north Karnataka," he added.
Karjol's reply mostly went unheard amid Congress' sloganeering, accusing the government of "lying" and that there was no quorum in the House.
Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri ahead of adjourning sine die the winter session of the legislative assembly, held at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in this border district, said that the house transacted for about 52 hours and has completed about 90 per cent of the business.
A total of ten bills were tabled and passed during this session.
Earlier, soon after question hour and zero hour, as the Speaker took up the discussion on issues concerning North Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said the time will not be enough to discuss the issues if the session is adjourned by the afternoon, and any improper discussion on the topic when the session is being held in Belagavi, would send a wrong message to the people.
He urged the Chair to continue the discussion till evening or continue the session for one more week.
Karjol and Speaker Kageri, however, maintained that the session should be concluded by afternoon.
Convincing Siddaramaiah, the Speaker allowed a couple of members from the BJP to talk on north Karnataka issues for a few minutes, stating that he will be given an opportunity after them.
Later, when Deputy Speaker Anand Mamani, who was in the Chair, allowed Siddaramaiah to speak, the Congress leader said he would speak for at least two hours and that time cannot be fixed for the Leader of Opposition.
Ruling party members objected to it stating that time limit should be fixed as they too want to speak and the Chair too asked him to limit his speech to 30 minutes. Siddaramaiah described it as a pre-planned conspiracy not to allow him to speak and trooped into the Well of the House, along with Congress members.
As his repeated attempts to bring order in the House under control failed, the Deputy Speaker adjourned the House for ten minutes.
When the House resumed, Speaker Kageri brought the House into order, and allowed Siddaramaiah to speak on the issues concerning north Karnataka, till 2 pm.
Siddaramaiah, though initially reluctant with fixing of time, participated in the debate and hit out at the government calling it "anti-north Karnataka" and "anti-Kalyana Karnataka".
He also accused the government of delay in implementing irrigation projects- especially Upper Krishna, improper utilisation of funds allocated for the development of backward taluks, and delay in appointing members to Kalyana Karnataka Regional Development Board.
Siddaramaiah after a while requested the chair to adjourn the house for lunch, and that he will continue post lunch, which was objected to by the ruling party members.
When the Speaker asked him to conclude, he said, "I won't agree. I want to speak on North Karnataka issues.."
As the Chair and government stuck to their stand and asked Siddaramaiah to conclude in another ten minutes, Siddaramaiah and other Congress members trooped into the Well, shouting slogans against the government accusing it of being not sympathetic to issues of north Karnataka.
Amid chaos and sloganeering, a couple of BJP members participated in the debate.
After the government's reply, Speaker Kageri read out the session's summary report and adjourned the House sine die.
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Nabin holds Odisha BJP core committee meeting, discusses strategies for next year's rural polls
Bhubaneswar (PTI): BJP national president Nitin Nabin Monday chaired a meeting of the party’s core committee in Odisha and discussed its strategies for the next year's rural polls and possible expansion of the council of ministers in the state, party sources said.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Deputy CMs KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal and its national vice-president Baijayant Panda attended the closed-door meeting that began at 8.30 am at the party's state headquarters here.
BJP MPs Sambit Patra and Pratap Sarangi, and the party's Odisha in-charge Vijay Pal Singh Tomar, co-in-charge Lata Usendi and other senior leaders also participated in the meeting.
"The national president discussed the party's strategies for panchayat polls next year, possible expansion of the council of ministers, and appointments of party leaders in different boards and corporations, and other issues," a BJP source said.
After the meeting, Sarangi said, "The core committee also discussed the BJP's ideology and how to maintain it when the party is in power in the state."
Nabin, who arrived here on Sunday night on his first visit to Odisha after he became the party president, is also scheduled to hold a series of organisational meetings, training programmes, and strategic dialogues with senior party leaders and office-bearers in Bhubaneswar and Puri.
Samal said Nabin’s visit is considered politically significant as it will infuse energy among the grassroots-level workers and leaders.
During the day, Nabin is also scheduled to visit the Lord Jagannath temple in Puri. He will partake of the sacred 'Mahaprasad' at the residence of Puri Lok Sabha MP and BJP's national spokesperson, Sambit Patra.
Upon returning to Bhubaneswar, Nabin will meet state office bearers and frontal unit presidents at 4 pm. He will also chair a meeting with members of the council of ministers of Odisha, another BJP source said.
He is scheduled to return to Delhi on Monday evening, he added.
