scorecardresearch
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomePoliticsLS speaker address in Karnataka House unconstitutional? Congress says yes, BJP points...

LS speaker address in Karnataka House unconstitutional? Congress says yes, BJP points to Rajiv

Congress says it's ‘bad precedent’ for a non-elected member of House to take assembly speaker’s chair. BJP defends address but agrees such an event finds no mention in rules.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

Bengaluru: Congress legislators in the Karnataka assembly Friday boycotted Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s joint address, deeming it “unconstitutional”. They said it was a “bad precedent” for the Lok Sabha speaker — a non-elected member of the House — to take the assembly speaker’s chair and address a joint session of the legislative council and assembly.

Led by its legislature party chief Siddaramaiah, the Congress demanded that the address be organised in the banquet hall of the Vidhana Soudha instead of the legislative assembly hall — a demand that was shot down by Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri as well as the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. 

Om Birla’s joint address was not listed as official business of the House and was more of an event rather than a session, but the invites sent to legislators were marked as a joint session address.

“It is unconstitutional for the Lok Sabha speaker to address a joint session of the state legislature. To allow it is a very bad precedent. Why not organise the talk in the banquet hall or elsewhere? The matter was not even approved in the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) and neither was the leader of opposition in the council consulted. In protest, we will boycott the Lok Sabha Speaker’s address,” Sidddaramaiah told reporters Thursday morning. He reiterated the stance Friday.

Both the Congress and the BJP agree that such an event finds no mention in the ‘Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly’ or any law that governs the business of the House.

However, the BJP sought to question the Congress’ criticism by referring to the 1986 SAARC Summit, when, during the tenure of PM Rajiv Gandhi, international dignitaries congregated in the Vidhana Soudha’s assembly hall.


Also read: Focus on 2023 Rajasthan polls, BJP tells cadre to get rid of factionalism amid Raje rumblings


‘No precedents anywhere’

R.V. Deshpande, an eight-time MLA and one of the most senior members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, told ThePrint that a joint session could only be addressed by the governor, or President of India.

“Nobody else can address the House. Om Birla is Lok Sabha Speaker. There are no precedents anywhere in the country, to the best of my knowledge, that the Lok Sabha speaker has gone and addressed a state legislature,” he said.

The senior Congress leader added that the Lok Sabha speaker addressing the state legislature was neither allowed by the Constitution nor the rulebook of Karnataka legislature.

Congress leader Krishna Byre Gowda, a former minister for law and parliamentary affairs in Karnataka, concurred.

“There is simply no provision for the Lok Sabha speaker to address the state legislature. The state legislature is completely autonomous and independent just like the Parliament. The governor and president have jurisdiction over the state legislature but the Lok Sabha speaker is a non-entity,” he said.

“There is no reference to the Lok Sabha speaker in the rule book, law or regulations governing the legislature. There is no reference at all, which means it is specifically omitted,” Byre Gowda said, adding that the Lok Sabha speaker was welcome to address legislators but not in the assembly hall.


Also read: BJP confined to just Ahirwal in Haryana, Union minister says in hint at widening rift in party


What the minister says on the issue

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C. Madhuswamy retorted, “Then how did Rajiv Gandhi use the Karnataka assembly chamber for a SAARC conference?”

Madhuswamy was referring to the 1986 SAARC Summit.

However, the minister agreed that there was neither precedent nor any mention of the Lok Sabha speaker being allowed to address a joint session.

“Many dignitaries of other countries also have addressed Parliaments and assemblies. Except Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s address, it has never happened in Karnataka’s history, true. But we never asked the Congress why Dr Kalam was invited to sit on the speaker’s chair and address a joint session,” Madhuswamy added.

Abdul Kalam, however, was then the President of India.

The senior minister in the Bommai cabinet added that contrary to Siddaramaiah’s claim, the matter of Lok Sabha speaker addressing a joint session was discussed and approved in the BAC. He added that the Congress was protesting it as an afterthought.

“But I certainly agree that this should not be the practice in the future,” Madhuswamy said on the matter, while pointing out that there was no provision for this in the rules of the House.

Despite the Congress boycott, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla addressed a joint session of the legislature attended by BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) legislators. However, his speech in Hindi drew flak from JD(S) legislators as well as a section of citizens in the state, who took to social media to express their anguish.

Before his address began, legislative assembly speaker V.H. Kageri announced a new award, ‘Best Legislator’. Former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa was made the debutant recipient of the award which, Kageri said, will be made an annual affair.

(Edited by Amit Upadhyaya)


Also read: BJP’s present politics different from what Syama Prasad espoused, Jana Sangh founder’s nephew says


 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular