Karnataka assembly Speaker Vishveshwar Hegade Kageri adjourned the winter legislative session in Belagavi on Thursday for an indefinite term amid opposition from the Congress.
According to people close to developments, ending the session on the ninth day might be preplanned as the BJP leaders have to Union home minister Amit Shah’s rally in Mandya on Friday. Congress also arranged a convention at Vijayapur on Friday on the Krishna river issue, which all of its legislators, including AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, are expected to attend.

The business house committee of the session had planned the business programme till Thursday, and it is left ‘blank’ in the column.

The tenth session was described as “fruitless” as both the houses failed to take any concrete decision, and no serious debate related to Northern Karnataka was initiated. “Farming sector was eager on issues such as the Upper Krishna project, agriculture supporting package, weaver of agriculture loan etc. However, none of the issues was attended to,” said Sugarcane Growers’ Association president Siddagouda Patil.
He added that not only the issues related to the farming community, but 63 organisations, including temporary employees attached to various government departments, protested in front of the Soudha, but none of the problems was solved.

Passing a unanimous resolution on the border issue was the only remarkable outcome of the session, and the massive protest rally of Panchamsalis for the 2A reservation outside Soudha was to be remembered. Only eight legislators of the total 16 from the Belagavi district were in the house when the house passed the unanimous resolution on the border.

Maharashtra, which held its winter session at Nagpur, passed a unanimous resolution demanding the merger of 865 villages, including Belagavi in Karnataka, into its fold and urged the Union government to declare the disputed land as Union Territory until the matter in Supreme Court is settled.
Accusing the government of curtailing the session by a day due to Amit Shah’s visit, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah said chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has no guts to ask him not to come during the session.

He further said the move to curtail the session is “against the state” and demanded that it be extended for another week to discuss public issues.

“The stance of the BJP government in Karnataka to cancel the proceedings of the House tomorrow to attend the Union home minister Amit Shah’s programme is against the state. I demand that the session be extended for one more week and to provide an opportunity to discuss public issues,” Siddaramaiah said.

Stating that even 15 days won’t be enough to discuss many issues, he said, “Keeping all that aside, curtailing the session for bending the knee before Amit Shah, shows the indifference of the Karnataka BJP government towards the people.”
Apart from this, the session from day one to day nine witnessed low attendance. As their leader, former chief minister and JD (S) member HD Kumaraswamy remained absent with prior permission. Many JD(S) legislators were seen in the House for a while and left signing on the attendance book. The participation of the party legislators in the debate was also less.

Congress also seemed not so keen in the session as its front-line and star leaders Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar, HK Patil, RV Deshpande, and MB Patil attended the session for namesake and were not involved in the debate and were not interested in countering the government.

Political experts described the tenth session held in Belagavi – the seventh in Suvarna Vidhana Soudha – as a disappointment gripped with an election hangover.
Except for the resolution of the border dispute, no major issues related to North Karnataka were discussed, experts said.

The way Congress responded to BJP’s tactic to gain political mileage over Savarkar’s portrait was remarkable as it failed in its plan, experts said. The government, through Speaker, had invited opposition parties to attend the portrait installation programme. However, as they were invited at the last moment, no one from the opposition participated.

“BJP expected a strong opposition from Congress, which could be used for political gain. However, we didn’t respond to its tactics,” said a senior former minister.