The second session of the Karnataka legislature in the current calendar year, during which the budget was presented to the Legislative Assembly by Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda and the approval obtained for a Vote on Account in both the Houses, has concluded, but the legislators of the ruling party remain on tenterhooks uncertain over whether the incumbent Chief Minister will continue until the next round of Assembly elections or whether the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa will be reinstated.
Show of strength
In the light of the confusion that prevails largely, thanks to the deep divisions within the top leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party which is yet to spell out its stand in clear terms, the two factions in the State unit of the BJP have commenced their efforts to retain their strength. In politics, more so when a party is running the Government, it is an extremely difficult task to retain control over ministers and legislators who will obviously prefer to be in the camp of the Chief Minister rather than a leader who is seeking reinstatement as Chief Minister.
It is in this context that Mr. Yeddyurappa hosted a breakfast meeting for State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators at his residence here on Friday.
One of his close associates told The Hindu that 70 MLAs and 18 MLCs were present. To give it a different touch, the Chief Minister and the State president of the BJP K.S. Eshwarappa were also among the invitees, but they did not make it owing to other preoccupations. Of course, Mr. Yeddyurappa has been hosting a breakfast for legislators at the end of the budget session over the past four years.
The breakfast that he hosted on Friday was followed by a luncheon programme hosted by the Minister for Kannada and Culture Govind Karjol, who is known for his inimical stand towards Mr. Yeddyurappa and this too was attended by the legislators of both factions . Interestingly, Mr. Yeddyurappa too attended the lunch.
There was no political discussion either at the breakfast or at the lunch and thus both the programmes turned out to be a feast for the foodies, rather than a serious strategy session on the next round of political activity.
Legislature session
The highlight of the 11-day legislature session was the submission of the report by the legislature committee headed by Shailappa Bidarur which went into the charges made against three former Ministers of viewing obscene films on cellphones in the Legislative Assembly. Significantly, the committee report was tabled in the Assembly minutes before the legislature was adjourned sine die and all the three former Ministers have been cleared of the charges made out against them and their suspension from attending the session has also been revoked.
In all, while 18 legislations were tabled in the legislative Assembly for consideration, 11 were passed, and it included the Karnataka Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill 2012 which was passed on Thursday.
The Chief Minister who is also the Finance Minister gave his reply to the budget in the legislative Council on Friday following which both the Houses were adjourned sine die .
