Belgaum: The winter session of the Karnataka Legislature held at Belgaum was a ‘Full House’ compared to previous sessions that made headlines for poor attendance.
However, this feat was not incidental. The attendance tremendously improved in the Belgaum session, after a rap from the All India Congress Committee (AICC), which took serious exception to absenteeism during sessions.
After the last session, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh had been vocal in his criticism of members taking the sessions easy. Singh directed the Ruling Party whip to send a report to the High Command on the participation of members after every Session.
Earlier, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah too had rued the poor attendance, the ‘walk-in-walk-out’ syndrome among legislators and ministers and lack of preparation for debates, while addressing a training session for MLAs.
Says Ruling Party whip P.M. Ashok, “Last time, the session saw a dismal 30 per cent attendance. This time, I am confident it has been 85 per cent, though I am yet to go through the register and get the final figure. I had raised the issue in the Congress Legislature Party meeting too.
I had mentioned it to Digvijay Singh when I met him a fortnight ago. I will soon be sending a report to the High Command on absentees and the reasons given by them, and also information about members’ participation.”
Santosh Lad, who quit the Cabinet two days prior to the Belgaum session, was conspicuous by his absence, while D.K. Shivakumar, M. Krishnappa and Roshan Baig were absent for most of the session as they were busy with the Delhi and Rajasthan elections.
