Now, no entry for journalists inside Legislators' Home

Legislative Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri has barred the entry of print and TV journalists, including cameramen, to the Legislators' Home near Vidhana Soudha citing the 'invasion of privacy' of the MLAs.

The decision comes after the Speaker banned TV cameras from covering the Legislative Assembly sessions on October 2019.

According to a notice by the Karnataka Legislative Assembly secretariat, the time spent by MLAs after their work hours at the Legislators' Home is private in nature. "At such an hour, if media personnel visit the MLAs, it will be an invasion of privacy. If MLAs seek to give an interview to journalists, the Speaker has ordered that an arrangement can be made outside the gates of the Legislators' Home," the notice read.

All 224 members of the legislative assembly and 75 of the legislative council are allotted rooms at the Legislators' Home, which is divided into four blocks in the Vidhana Soudha neighbourhood. Legislators pay Rs 500 per month for a single room, Rs 1,000 for a double room and Rs 1,000 for a family flat.

This is among a series of curbs imposed on the media at Vidhana Soudha in recent days. During the early days of the Congress-JD(S) coalition in July 2018, the then chief minister H D Kumaraswamy had sought to regulate the entry of journalists to Vidhana Soudha and some curbs were imposed. They were relaxed following widespread criticism.

In October last, Kageri banned the entry of camera crews to the Legislative Assembly gallery on the grounds that it was in line with the Parliament system. The move has stayed put despite criticism by the Opposition, which called it 'fatal for democracy'.