BENGALURU: The standoff between Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and the Congress government over the issue of the Central government replacing Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G), is likely to push the state into a constitutional crisis.
After calling on the Governor, a delegation led by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil reportedly met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and briefed him that Governor Gehlot was insisting on the removal of certain paragraphs of the speech prepared by the cabinet.
It is not known what the Chief Minister’s decision is, but depending on the Governor’s move on Thursday, the State government is likely to move the Supreme Court, sources said.
“As of now, there is no situation as such, it will only be known on Thursday whether the issue will lead to a constitutional crisis. The Governor is a senior leader with experience and full knowledge of the Constitution which he will adhere to,” remarked CM’s legal adviser and Virajpet MLA AS Ponnanna. He was part of the delegation that met the governor to convince him to address the session.
He reiterated that as per Article 176(1) of the Constitution, the governor shall address the session and there is no precedent as such, of any governor in the country refusing to address the session in toto after Independence. Even the governors of Tamil Nadu and Kerala did address the session, though they skipped certain content, despite having reservations about the speech prepared by the state governments, he added.
Ponnanna also informed that the Governor did not agree on the argument that MGNREGA was repealed.
Former advocate-general of Karnataka Ashok Haranahalli said the onus of settling the issue is also on the government. “Why is the government insisting that the Governor read content criticising the Centre? It would amount to using the constitutional head to level charges against the Centre politically.
The government should set right the issue amicably. If at all it has to criticise the Centre, it can do so in the session, not only through the Governor’s speech. If the government moves court over the issue, it shows its helplessness in resolving the issue,” he told a private television channel.
It all started with the Siddaramaiah cabinet resolving to oppose VB-G RAM G, alleging that the new Act will take away labourers’ right to employment, besides curtailing the powers of Gram Panchayats.
It initially planned a two-day special session which was eventually tweaked to a regular joint session of legislature for technical reasons, as the Governor addresses the first session of the year. Incidentally, the Congress led by Leader of Oppoisition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and his counterpart in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge, had launched ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’ across the country. In Karnataka, the party has been gearing up to launch the same soon.