Governor raps govt for ignoring his letter

Bangalore, Feb 23 (UNI) In a twist to the ongoing political feud over the delay in electing a new Chairman to the Karnataka Legislative Council, Officiating Chairman N Thipanna today said he was not aware about the message from Governor T N Chaturvedi when he adjourned the House to March 16 on Tuesday.

Mr Thippanna's response came after the Governor, in a strongly worded press release last night, questioned the adjournment of the House without informing the members about his message relating to the election to the Chairman's post, lying vacant for several months now. The Governor asserted that the message was delivered to the House well before Mr Thipanna adjourned it.

Even as the Congress, which had been stalling the proceedings of both the Houses on the issue, demanded President's Rule, accusing the JD(S)-BJP coalition government of resorting to unconstitutional means to run the administration, Mr Thipanna, in a two-page letter to the Governor, said ''someone had twisted the facts to suit his convenience or save his face''. An inquiry into the entire episode had been ordered to find out the culprit, he added.

He claimed that the message was brought to his notice much after the adjournment by the Principal Secretary of the Legislature, who said that since there were visitors in his room, he could not inform about it. The House was adjourned till March 16 as there was no business before the Council in view of disruption of business in the Lower House.

The Governor took exception to the adjournment of the House without making his message known to the members on the issue. He had also pulled up the Opposition Congress for taking up the issue in the Assembly, where some senior party MLAs disrupted the proceedings, throwing all conventions to wind.

Mr Chaturvedi said he had sent a message addressed to the members of the Council, suggesting that both the ruling coalition partners and the Opposition arrive at a mutual settlement as the Legislative Council, being the House of Elders, should try and preserve its dignity and autonomous working.

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