BENGALURU: Although scheduled to be held for just three days, the Winter session of Karnataka Legislative Assembly and Council is expected to be a stormy one. Assembly Speaker Vishveshwar Hegde Kageri’s decision to deny entry to video and photojournalists inside the House and instead stream visuals through State-owned Doordarshan, has come as ammunition to the Congress.
In its Legislature Party meeting on Wednesday, the Congress touched upon topics that it needs to counter the BJP with, in this assembly session. “Primary focus will be damages caused by the floods and the state government’s inability to bring enough funds from the Union government for relief work. The aid announced by the Centre is peanuts in comparison to the damage floods have caused,” said an MLA of the Congress. Legislative Party Chief Siddaramaiah is said to have asked Congress leaders to question the BJP’s attempt to stifle media.
“The assembly session was reduced to three days because of Model Code of Conduct that was announced by the Election Commission but now the bypolls have been postponed. The winter session should have been held in Belagavi but they are choosing to hold it in Bengaluru. These issues need to be raised and three days of business is not enough,” Siddaramaiah is said to have told the Congress legislators in the meet.
“We do not want to disrupt the proceedings but have to point out the fact that this government has cut out funds to constituencies of non-BJP MLAs,” said a Congress MLA from Bengaluru. Congress is also keen on taking on the BJP, especially Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi, who was caught on television cameras watching porn along with his colleagues inside the assembly, over banning television and print cameras inside the House.