Ministers upset at being kept in the dark about Soudha fete

Session in Belagavi from Nov 13

The winter session of the state legislature will commence from November 13 at Survana Soudha in Belagavi.

The state Cabinet, which met in Bengaluru on Wednesday, took a decision in this regard. Law Minister T B Jayachandra said the session is likely to be held for 10 days.

Bengaluru: A section of ministers in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet is learnt to have taken exception to the “unilateral decisions” taken by Legislative Council Chairman D H Shankaramurthy and Speaker K B Koliwad on organising diamond jubilee celebrations to mark the completion of 60 years of the iconic Vidhana Soudha.

The presiding officers of the two houses are said to have gone ahead with preparations for the gala celebrations and renovation of Vidhana Soudha without informing the government about it. The celebrations and the renovations have been taken up at a cost of Rs 26 crore.

Shankaramurthy and Koliwad, last week, visited New Delhi and invited President Ram Nath Kovind to address a special joint session of the state legislature on October 25. They even released a detailed itinerary on various events, including cultural programmes lined up as part of the diamond jubilee celebrations.

The proposal is yet to be considered by the state Cabinet, sources in the government said.

What has irked the section of ministers is that neither the state Cabinet nor the government was kept informed about the celebrations.

Law Minister T B Jayachandra admitted that the state Cabinet is yet to get an official note from the presiding officers about Kovind’s address to the legislature. However, he said it will be held as scheduled. He remained non-committal on whether the Cabinet will approve the financial proposal prepared by the legislature secretariat.