BENGALURU: A committee of MLAs plans to fly abroad next month, ostensibly to study how to prepare estimates.
The Legislative Estimates Committee, headed by former Assembly Speaker and senior Congress leader K Ramesh Kumar, has sought the permission of Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa to visit countries in Europe. Thimmappa, who had cancelled earlier junkets, told Express he had no idea about the trip. He said some time ago he had formed a committee to prepare guidelines to govern such trips. “The new guidelines will be issued soon,” he said. He said it was possible the committee had planned the trip on the basis of the new guidelines, which say a legislator can go on foreign tours only twice in a five-year term.
BJP’s B Suresh Gowda, a member of the committee, told Express he was not aware of the trip. “The committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday and this may come up for discussion,” he said.
Following public outcry, the government had cancelled junkets planned by the Petitions Committee and Public Accounts Committee last year. The Legislative Committee on Government Assurances, led by B R Yavagal, was in Australia and New Zealand when the government, under pressure from the BJP and JD(S), had asked it to cut short its trip and return.