The ongoing winter session of the State legislature in Belagavi is set to wind up on Thursday, a day ahead of the original schedule. The session that began in the northern city on December 19 was to end on December 30 as per earlier schedule.
An announcement in this regard was made by Assembly Speaker Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri on Wednesday. Most members had other programmes to attend on Friday, and hence, he had decided to end the session a day earlier on Thursday evening, he said.
All preoccupied
While the ruling BJP leaders are busy with preparations for the arrival of their key strategist Amit Shah to the State on Friday, the principal Opposition Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D. K. Shivakumar are trying to give a message of unity by participating in a bus yatra together, which will be flagged off from Vijayapura on the same day. The other Opposition Janata Dal (Secular) has had a thin presence in the session, with its key leader H.D. Kumaraswamy away on the party’s poll tour of Pancharatna Yatra along with other party leaders.
In fact, this session was marked by lack of interest among legislators cutting across party affiliations right from the very beginning as the preparations for the forthcoming Assembly elections appear to be weighing heavily on their minds. Mr. Kageri had to express displeasure over several Ministers not being present in the House to reply to issues. Even the presence of members across political affiliations was thin during several debates.
Though MLAs had expressed concern over their poll preparations getting affected of their camp in Belagavi, when hardly 100 days are left for the Assembly elections, their leaders had desisted from seeking curtailment of session as they were wary of its political impact precisely because of proximity to elections.
Amid border row
The practice of holding winter session of the legislature in Belagavi was started in 2006 by the then JD(S)-BJP coalition government led by Mr. Kumaraswamy to focus on North Karnataka issues. But the ongoing session could barely take up any elaborate discussion on issues related to North Karnataka, though there were huge expectations from people of this region as it is the last one being held by the present political regime in the city. Ironically, there was little focus on North Karnataka by any party, though the border row with Maharashtra has been raked up and there has been a heated debate on it in both the States.
The ongoing session is the 11th in series that saw the total number of sittings in Belagavi crossing the 100th day mark.
