Oppn walkout in protest against 'summoning assembly without reason'

Bangalore, Mar 14 (UNI) Janata Dal (United) leader J C Madhuswamy and Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Party leader Vatal Nagaraj today staged a walkout in the Karnataka Assembly alleging that the government was misusing the office of the Speaker and pressurised him to convene the House two days in advance without any specific reason.

Raising the issue after the House assembled, the members questioned the reasons behind advancing the Budget Session by two days and said even the Speaker was kept in dark about it. It amounted to insulting the Speaker, they contended.

Senior Congress member and former Speaker Ramesh Kumar came to their rescue and said the right to convene the Assembly only rested with the Speaker and nobody else. If there was no agenda for the day if reflected on the Speaker's office, he said adding specific reasons should have been mentioned while summoning the Assembly.

Independent member Jayaprakash Hegde said he came to know about the Assembly session only through the media and said the Speaker's office had not informed him about it. ''But for the media, It would not have been possible for me to attend the Session,'' he remarked.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M P Prakash said the government had written to the Speaker's office well in advance and hence the Session was legal and constitutional. Speaker Krishna, too, informed the House that he had received the letter and had convened the Session accordingly.

Mr Madhuswamy and Mr Nagaraj staged a walkout saying that they were protesting against 'helplessness' of the Speaker on the issue.

Even as the House was discussing the issue, Opposition Leader N Dharam Singh surprisingly moved a resolution with regard to the Cauvery Water Tribunal Verdict and said the State was committed to fight the issue legally and constitutionally. His party leader Siddaramaiah seconded the resolution and urged the Speaker to take up the issue for discussion immediately.

However, Mr Prakash and others suggested that the issue be discussed in the Business Advisory Committee first to explore the ways for discussion. The House was adjourned till lunch to enable BAC to finalise the issue.

UNI