Poll fever: Poor attendance set to cast shadow on last session of Karnataka’s 15th Assembly

The last session of the 15th Legislative Assembly of Karnataka commencing on Friday is likely to witness poor attendance as a significant number of legislators are expected to give it a miss as they will be busy campaigning for the assembly polls, due by April-May.

The 11-day-long session, which will begin with Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot addressing the joint sitting of the legislature, will see Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who also holds the Finance portfolio, presenting his government’s last budget on February 17.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah is likely to skip the Governor’s address on February 10, as he will be on the Congress’ ”Praja Dwani Yatre” in the northern parts of the state, as per his tour plan.

According to sources close to him, he is likely to take part in the session for a very few days, that includes the day on which the budget will be presented.

According to Congress sources, party’s state unit President D K Shivakumar, and several of its legislators are also likely to stay away on most of the days, as they will be either part of the yatre or will have to fulfill their responsibility relating to preparation for the polls.

JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy who is leading the party’s ”Pancharatna Ratha Yatre” preparing for the polls, is also likely to skip the session, leaving his deputy in the Assembly Bandeppa Kashempur to lead the charge in the lower House.

The former Chief Minister did not attend the winter session of legislature held in Belagavi in December.

Several BJP legislators and Ministers too are likely to be absent on most days during the session, as they will be part of party work or stay put in their constituencies Bommai himself is likely to have a tight schedule as will have to manage between the session and the party’s poll campaign responsibilities. He will also have to take part in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s proposed visits to the state.

Legislative Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri urged the members to take it upon themselves as a responsibility and attend the last session compulsorily with utmost seriousness, and not being in an election mode.

”Looking at the schedule of some legislators and leaders, my task of running the House smoothly is likely to be easy…elections should not take away the seriousness of the session,” he told reporters here.

Appealing to legislators and Ministers to attend the session unless it is absolutely necessary to skip it, Kageri said, there will be enough time for the elections, for the code of conduct to come into force, and for nominations to be filed, after the session.

”With utmost seriousness and with full responsibility I want to tell all the members of the Assembly that- our houses are seen as temple of democracy, so much of sanctity it has, and elected representatives have the responsibility of being its members for five years, since this is the last session of the current assembly and this house has played a crucial role in the last five years of their public life, I urge them not neglect it during the last session,” he said.

The session is slated to take up seven bills — six private university bills and one Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Bill, tabled during the previous sessions, the Speaker has said, adding that a total of 1,300 questions have been received.

The session is likely to see the opposition targeting the government on a host of issues including alleged corruption, sugarcane farmers issues, closure of Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited (VISL) at Bhadravati, and alleged discrimination or injustice to the state in the union budget, which the BJP is planning to counter by raising political issues that might put opposition parties, especially the Congress, on the backfoot.