BJP blames Congress for poor development of N Karnataka

Belagavi: The 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.