The Congress party has decided to boycott the address of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at a joint session of the Karnataka Assembly on Friday.
The special address by Birla on "Democracy - Safeguarding democratic values" was planned by Karnataka Assembly Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri and Karnataka Legislative Council chairman Basavaraj Horatti, on the concluding day of the 10-day monsoon session to commemorate the 75 years of India's Independence.
The Congress claimed that the House rules of the Karnataka Legislature does not permit any person other than the President of India and the Governor to address a joint session inside the Assembly.
"First of all, our CLP leader had opposed the proposal (for joint address) in the business advisory committee meeting. In the Upper House, our leader of the opposition was not taken into confidence before planning the event. We urged the Assembly Speaker (Kageri) to host the joint address in the banquet hall instead of the Assembly hall. But he is adamant on doing it inside the Assembly hall. The BJP government is setting a bad precedent. So, the Congress party is boycotting the address and also protesting against it," said KPCC chief D. K. Shivakumar, addressing a press meet in Vidhana Soudha on Thursday.
CLP leader and Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah slammed the BJP government saying, "The Legislature session is being held after six months and there are so many issues of public importance to be discussed. But the Speaker has refused to extend the session by another one or two weeks saying the ruling party is not in favour of it. Now, they want to start a new tradition of having the Lok Sabha Speaker to address a state Legislature, which is unheard of in my decades long career."
Incidentally, the Congress party will be staging a "Tonga" protest on Friday, when all the Congress MLAs and MLCs will ride on a tonga from the Congress office to Vidhana Soudha to protest against the fuel price hike. Earlier, the Congress members led by Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah had driven bullock carts and rode bicycles to the Vidhana Soudha to attend the Legislature session in a symbolic protest against the soaring prices of petrol and diesel.
