Council chair seeks explanation over absentee ministers

For the second time, Legislative Council pro-tem Chairman Basavaraj Horatti pulled up the government for the poor attendance of ministers and officials during the proceedings of the House on Monday.

He also cautioned the government of strict action if the attendance did not improve for the remainder of the session. Last Friday, Horatti had taken the government to task for the absence of ministers. More than half of the 13 ministers required to be present, had absented themselves.

On Monday, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and ministers G T Devegowda, N H Shivashankar Reddy, Priyank Kharge, Sa Ra Mahesh and Puttarangashetty were supposed to be present in the House.

Likewise, officers including Ajay Seth, B Gurupadaswamy, S E Srinivas and Basavaraj were to be mandatorily present. However, when he saw that neither the ministers nor the officers were present, Horatti demanded an explanation from the government.