Amidst the tussle with the Congress-led government in Karnataka, Governor Thawarchand Gehlot on Thursday declined to deliver the customary address prepared to the joint session of the state legislature. Triggering dramatic scenes in the Assembly, he limited his address to a few lines and abruptly ended it, taking exception to certain references to the Centre “repealing” the UPA-era MGNREGA.
The Governor said, “Overall, to ensure social, economic and physical development, my government is fully committed. Jai Hind and Jai Karnataka.”
Following this, MLAs and MLCs of both Houses stood up in confusion. As the Governor stepped down from the Speaker’s Chair from where he delivered the brief address, BJP legislators congratulated the Governor and raised slogans of “Bharat Mata ki Jai”, while Congress MLAs and MLCs attempted to stop him and urged him to read the speech prepared by the government.
A total of 11 paragraphs in the government prepared speech, which allegedly makes critical reference to the Centre and its policies, touching upon the MGNREGA and issues including devolution of funds seem to have irked the governor, who wanted them to be deleted.
In the visuals from the assembly, Congress MLC B.K. Hariprasad attempted to confront the Governor over the development. At this stage, marshals pushed away the legislators and cleared the way for the Governor to exit. However, senior Congress leader Hariprasad resisted the marshals and tried to question the Governor on why he was not reading out the speech handed over to him by the government. The marshals had to forcibly push him aside to enable the Governor to leave.
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Siddaramaiah lashes out
Accusing Karnataka Governor Thawarchand Gehlot of reading his own speech instead of the one prepared by the state government, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday charged the former with failing to discharge his duties and responsibilities as prescribed by the Constitution.
The governor has violated the Constitution by not reading the full speech prepared by the government, and acted like a “puppet” in the hands of the central government, he charged.
The CM lashed out at the governor after Gehlot had earlier concluded his customary address to the joint session of the state legislature here after reading just two lines from the speech.
“Every new year, the governor has to address the joint session and he has to read the speech prepared by the state cabinet. That is constitutional. Because, article 176 of the Indian Constitution and Article 163 says he or she — the Governor –shall read the speech prepared by the government or the cabinet,” Siddaramaiah told reporters .
“Today, instead of reading the speech prepared by the cabinet, he spoke the speech prepared by himself. This is against the provisions of the Indian Constitution. It clearly violates article 176 and 163 of the Constitution. Therefore it is not going to be the speech of the Governor. He has not discharged his duties as per the Constitution. He has not discharged his responsibilities as prescribed by the Indian Constitution,” the CM charged.
“Therefore we are going to protest against the attitude of the governor. We are examining whether to approach the Supreme Court or not. We will let you know,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)
