Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot walked out of the Karnataka Assembly on Thursday without reading the full resolution prepared by the state government.
According to reports, the Governor read only the first and last lines of his customary speech to the joint session of the Assembly and left the Assembly.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that the state government will protest against the attitude of the Governor and will consider going to the Supreme Court regarding Gehlot’s action.
Congress leader BK Hariprasad tried to stop the Governor at the Assembly gate and asked him to read out the speech in full, which Gehlot rejected.
Following the incident, Congress MLAs and MLCs raised slogans against the Governor and condemned the act.
Reacting to the incident, Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge questioned the logic behind the Governor’s move and asked whether “the office of the Governor has become the office of the BJP?”
Kharge said, “Who is violating Articles 176 and 163? Whatever we have said in our Governor’s speech are all facts. There is not a single lie in it, yet the Governor does not want to read it. Has the Governor’s office become the BJP’s office?”
He termed the address as a constitutional duty of the Governor and said the speech included only matters of state interest, which had already been presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said, “It is their constitutional duty to do so. I don’t know why they are shying away from this. If even one paragraph is false or fabricated, do not read it. These 11 paragraphs are already being debated in public. These same paragraphs have been handed over to the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Agriculture and Public Relations Minister.”
Kharge said, “What is wrong in this? This is already in public knowledge. He is just expressing the concerns of the public. If he does not care about the people of Karnataka, then he is free to go wherever he wants.”
He further said that if the Governor does not want to read the speech given on state issues, then the speech should be made public so that people can decide whether it is “fact or fiction”. He alleged that the Governor was being ordered to take such steps by higher officials and questioned his “independence”.
State Law Minister H.K. Patil termed it “a dark day in the history of democracy”.
Patil said, “A governor, who is supposed to be the guardian of the Constitution, has failed to discharge his duty. He has to address a joint session of the Assembly. He has insulted the Constitution. We will take appropriate decisions.”
Later Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, “Every New Year the Governor has to address the joint session of the Assembly and his speech is prepared by the Cabinet. This is a constitutional requirement. Today, instead of reading the speech prepared by the Cabinet, the Governor read his own prepared speech. This is a violation of the Constitution of India. This is a violation of Articles 176 and 163 of the Indian Constitution. He has not discharged his duties as per the Constitution.”
The Chief Minister further said, “So we are going to protest against the attitude of the Governor. We are considering whether to approach the Supreme Court or not.”
Meanwhile, State Assembly Speaker UT Khadar rejected allegations of conflict between the Governor and the state government.
Addressing media persons, Khader said, “The constitutional bodies will support each other. The office of the Governor is a constitutional body. They will work together. There is no conflict between the Governor and the government.”
Yesterday, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi walked out of the opening day of the first session of the Assembly without delivering his speech.
Furthermore, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused Governor Arlekar of making additions to the policy speech approved by the Council of Ministers and requested the Assembly to accept the Cabinet-approved version as the authentic policy document.
Lok Bhavan, in its reply, said the Governor had requested to remove “incomplete truths” from the draft policy speech. The government responded that the Governor could prepare and read a policy speech with amendments as per his wish. It was also indicated that the speech would be re-presented incorporating the changes suggested by Lok Bhavan.
