BENGALURU: The Legislative Council meeting that was adjourned on Thursday will resume for one day on December 15. A notification to this effect was issued by Legislative Council Secretary KR Mahalakshmi on Saturday.
On Thursday, Council Chairman Prathap Chandra Shetty adjourned the proceedings sine die and BJP MLCs had approached Governor Vajubhai Vala on Friday, requesting him to reconvene the session to complete the pending business.
The 75-member council has 31 BJP MLCs, Congress 29 and JDS 14. The Assembly passed the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill 2020 on Wednesday. It was supposed to be tabled in the Council the next day, but the ruling BJP changed its plans, fearing that the Council chairman would refer it to the Joint Select Committee which would delay the implementation further.
They planned to issue an ordinance instead. BJP sources said that they have two issues -- passing of anti-cow slaughter bill and tabling a no-confidence motion against the Chairman. “JDS members are not backing us on the anti-cow slaughter bill, but they will support us in moving the no-confidence motion,’” they said.
The JDS is said to have requested the ruling party to make senior MLC Basavaraj Horatti the council chairman for supporting the BJP, but a section of JDS members is opposed to the idea, sources said. The BJP has suggested senior MLC Aynur Manjunath, Arun Shahpur and Tejaswini Gowda for the post.
“Once the chairman is removed, we can pass the anti-cow slaughter bill anytime. We can bring in an ordinance now, and table the bill during the next session,” the sources said. Senior BJP MLC Ravikumar said they will pressurise the chair to move the no-confidence motion on Tuesday.