Karnataka Assembly session to be held in Belagavi in Dec

Bengaluru: State Assembly Speaker Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri said that the next Legislative session will be held in Belagavi's Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in December.

Addressing media here on Tuesday, Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri said, "There is a demand from several quarters to hold the next session in Belagavi. Even the State government is keen on conducting the session in Suvarna Soudha. I have directed the authorities concerned to make necessary preparations for the same."

He said he has proposed to set aside one day for the Opposition parties to raise and discuss issues.

Though the State government spends Rs 5 crore each year for the upkeep of the Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi, only sessions have been held there in the last decade.

In an attempt to bring the administration closer to North Karnataka and dispel a sense of alienation in the region, the government has constructed the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha.

By holding Assembly session there, the Karnataka government seeks to assert that Belagavi is an integral part of Karnataka as Maharashtra has been laying claim to it.

Belagavi, bordering Maharashtra, has been hosting legislature sessions once a year since 2006. Not a single session has been held in Belagavi in the last two years due to floods and COVID-19.