The Karnataka legislature session, which will start on Monday, is expected to be stormy with the Opposition parties getting ready to take on the Congress government on several issues, including the demand for waiver of farm loans and alleged failure in maintaining law and order situation and handling drought.
Emboldened by the outcome of the bypolls to Nanjangud and Gundlupet, the Congress is set to retaliate the Opposition’s attack with renewed vigour.
The Principal Opposition BJP is preparing to embarrass the government with a list of alleged failures and controversies. There is every possibility of the Opposition mounting pressure on the government to waive farm loans in cooperative institutions.
Besides this, the mysterious death of IAS officer Anurag Tewari, survey by the Centre for Media Studies, which ranked Karnataka as number 1 in corruption, and the CID giving a clean chit to former minister H.Y. Meti are the BJP’s top agenda.
The truce between BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council K.S. Eshwarappa has given moral courage to the party to take on the ruling Congress.
The government is likely to counter the attack by discussing the Centre’s notification on curbs regarding sale of cow for slaughterhouses, alleged apathy of the government in waiving farms debts in commercial banks, and non-releasing of funds sought to meet drought relief. Sources in the Congress said they would formulate a strategy to effectively tackle the attack after observing the Opposition for the first two days.
The JD(S) is also gearing up to question the Congress government on issues such as alleged neglect of north Karnataka and failure to address successive droughts. Sources in the party said the Leader of the Party in the Assembly H.D. Kumaraswamy has travelled over 7,000 km in recent days, to understand the plight of farmers in the northern part of the State and collected information to attack the government. Mr. Kumaraswamy is also preparing to raise issues pertaining to illegal mining, said a senior party leader.
With Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hinting at Cabinet expansion after the session, aspirants will do their best at the session to please him.
Meanwhile, the Upper House is drawing all political attention with the Congress members submitting a notice seeking permission to table a no-confidence motion against Legislative Council Chairman D.H. Shankaramurthy, and the latter issuing notices to eight members of the Congress and JD(S) accusing them of violating various norms.
