17 Bills passed in a not-so-stormy winter session of Karnataka legislature

Karnataka legislature passes 17 Bills in first winter session of Congress government, despite threats of disruption from Opposition.

Curtains came down on the first winter session of this Congress government here on Friday with the ruling party getting 17 Bills passed amid threats of disruption of the House proceedings by the Opposition BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) over political issues.

Though the winter session was expected to discuss the prevailing drought in the State and a plethora of issues affecting the Kittur Karnataka and Kalyana Karnation regions of North Karnataka on which the Opposition was expected to attack the government, the proceedings were not stormy.

While the Opposition planned to corner the government over the issues of withdrawal of the consent given to the Central Bureau of Investigation in Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s disproportionate assets case and Housing Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed’s statement on the Speaker’s chair, the government successfully managed the business with both the issues not making too big a noise. The BJP also failed to corner the Congress over the law and order situation as the government deflected the attack by bringing up the North Karnataka debate as a deterrent.

On the other hand, the internal differences in the BJP over its recent appointment of R. Ashok as Leader of the Opposition and B.Y. Vijayendra as the BJP president and a lack of coordination in its ranks became stark multiple times. Senior BJP member Basannagouda Patil Yatnal also repeatedly took digs at the BJP leadership both within and outside the Legislative Assembly, embarrassing the saffron party. This was also the first legislature session for the BJP and the JD(S) after their alliance for the Lok Sabha election was announced, and complete coordination was visibly lacking at times.

Meanwhile, in the 10-day session, House business was conducted for 66 hours during which the Sate’s mid-term fiscal report and supplementary estimates were approved. In the Assembly, of the 150 starred questions, answers were given to 148 while of the 2,206 unstarred questions, answers were received for 2,010.

According to Speaker U.T. Khader, only two legislators — the former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Congress legislator Priya Krishna — remained absent for the entire session. Mr. Bommai is recuperating after a heart surgery.

In all, Karnataka legislature has met for 28 days in 2023, far less than the at least 60 days suggested in the Karnataka Conduct of Government Business in the Legislature Act, 2005. Mr. Khader said it was up to the government to hold the session and legislators to participate. He said that during the 10-day winter session, about 27,000 schoolchildren and about 14,500 general public watched the proceedings from the visitors gallery.