BENGALURU: SENIOR BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar on Friday said that the practice of the governor’s annual address to the state legislature across the country has lost its significance and sanctity and there should be a national debate on whether the practice should continue.
Calling it a “colonial hangover adapted from the UK’s Westminster system where the King or Queen addresses the Parliament”, Suresh Kumar said, “When we adapted it under Article 87 of the Constitution, the architects of our constitution never imagined conflicts would arise like the present one, like they did not know about cyber crimes while framing IPC.”
Making it clear that it was his personal opinion and not his party line, the former minister said, “Is there a need to revisit the practice of the governor’s address? Is it relevant today?”
He was making this point while speaking on the motion of vote of thanks to the governor’s speech. “My vote of thanks is for the governor and not for the speech,” he added.
He regretted that the ritual of inviting the governor to the House, making him or her read the government’s achievements, and then condemning him or her would ultimately turn out to be an insult to the governor’s office.
He pointed out that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has proposed the need for a constitutional amendment to abolish the customary governor’s address.
Suresh Kumar also recalled that former Bihar and Jharkhand governor Justice M Rama Jois had also opined that the “satire” of the governor’s speech should be put to an end.
“Taking cue from Karnataka, there is a need for a national debate as to what the governors should read out to the governments. Usually, the achievements and the glance for the future should be incorporated in the speech, but these days the governor’s speech has political overtones,” he said.
The part the governor did not read out (on repeal of MGNREGA), the government has accomplished it through its newspaper advertisements, he said.
Suresh Kumar, referring to the issue of the change in leadership in Karnataka, observed that the bureaucracy has been in a state of uncertainty. “The revolution was predicted to happen in November, December, and was pushed to this January. The bureaucrats are facing uncertainty as to whom they should report to. This adhocism is not good in the interest of the development of the state,” he said.
He chided that the government is marred by infighting as there is a shadow boxing (between Deputy CM D K Shivakumar’s younger brother D K Suresh and CM’s son Dr Yathindra) which was an “entertainment without tax”, which, however, people of the state are fed up with.
On the issue of the State Government laying the red carpet for the Adani Group, Suresh Kumar said, “In this country, a few names cause aversion to a few. The Congress alleged that the BJP has surrendered to Adani. But the State Government laid the red carpet for Adani Group’s ACC cement.
After filing a criminal case to recover Rs 850 crore and not even considering the law department’s opinion, the industries and commerce department has sent a letter of intent directly to the Centre for the extension of one year,” he said.