It is not just the thin attendance of legislators which is haunting the ongoing legislature session in Belagavi. Because, Monday’s session saw thin attendance of Ministers too, especially in the Legislative Assembly.
About 10 Ministers, who had been designated by the Speaker to attend Monday’s session, were absent.
The issue came up when Major Irrigation Minister M.B. Patil replied on behalf of Housing Minister M. Krishnappa, who was absent. Questioner and BJP member C.T. Ravi took exception to this and objected to the Ministers staying away from even the special session which is being held once a year.
Speaker K. B. Koliwad read out the list of Ministers who were designated to be in the House on Monday, when Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar took serious exception to the thin presence of Ministers.
The Opposition members described it as showing indifference towards people of North Karnataka.
Interestingly, the total number of MLAs present in the Assembly did not exceed 50 even when the House took up discussion on North Karnataka issues. In fact the quorum bell of the Assembly rang for nearly 30 minutes as there was no adequate number of MLAs to commence the session.
