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Congress to boycott Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla’s address in K’taka legislature
The principal opposition is opposed to the address being held at the legislative assembly chamber and has stated that it will set a “wrong precedent” as no one other than the President of India and Karnataka Governor have addressed such joint sittings so far
Bengaluru The Congress in Karnataka said it will boycott Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s address to the joint sitting of both the Houses of the state legislature on Friday, the last day of the ongoing monsoon session, contending that it will set a “wrong precedent”.
The principal opposition is opposed to the address being held at the legislative assembly chamber and has stated that it will set a “wrong precedent” as no one other than the President of India and Karnataka Governor have addressed such joint sittings so far.
However, the party has no reservation if the event were to be held at the banquet hall of Vidhana Soudha, the seat of state legislature and secretariat here.
“When the matter came up at the Business Advisory Committee meeting, I had said, it will set a new precedent, as so far no Lok Sabha speaker has addressed the joint sitting in the assembly. Let’s not set a new precedent, also there is no scope for it in the constitution,” Leader of Opposition in the assembly Siddaramaiah said on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters he said, the Assembly Speaker however tried to give an explanation by stating that he had addressed Rajasthan or Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
The senior Congress leader cited the government and the Speaker not agreeing to their demand for extending the session, joint sitting not being discussed with the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, no scope for it in the constitution, and it setting a new precedent, as the reasons for his party’s opposition.
“We suggested that, as the invites have been sent out, let the address be held at the banquet hall at Vidhana Soudha and not in the assembly hall, and we too will attend. But the Assembly Speaker is not ready to agree to it. So we have made it clear to the Speaker that we will boycott,” he added.
The Lok Sabha Speaker is scheduled to address the joint sitting of the state legislature at 2:30 PM on the topic “Democracy - Safeguarding Parliamentary Values.” Siddaramaiah in response to a question on the topic, asked “does it mean that democratic and parliamentary values have gone, as they are going to safeguard it?” State Congress President D K Shivakumar said the government was trying to create a “new history” in the historic Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
He said the Lok Sabha Speaker’s address will set a wrong precedent and the Congress will not be a party for legislative assembly being used as a political platform. “We have decided to boycott in protest.” “There is no scope for such an address (by the Lok Sabha Speaker) inside the Assembly as per our parliamentary system and our business rules,” he said, adding that from the topic of the address it seems that the ruling dispensation has agreed that democracy and parliamentary values have deteriorated under their rule.
Friday is the last day of the 10-day long monsoon session of the state legislature that began on September 13.
Siddaramaiah also said the government is not agreeing to extend the session by at least a week, pointing out that both houses have met after six months and there are a lot of issues to be discussed.
“At the BAC meeting last week I had asked for at least a four week session, but they said we will decide it in the next BAC. No BAC meeting was called this week, so I wrote a letter to him (Speaker) to at least extend the session by a week, he said- the government is not agreeing, what should I do? ,” he said.
In the parliamentary system of governance, assembly and parliament is the only forum to raise issues, he said, adding, the Congress had agreed to opposition’s demand to extend the session while in power.
