Punctual MLAs to win prizes: Speaker U T Khader

Speaker U T Khader on Wednesday appreciated the 23 MLAs for being punctual for Tuesday's session and said such on-time lawmakers will be given prizes.

Duryodhan Aihole, Darshan Puttanaiah, CN Balakrishna, Mahantesh Koujalagi, Belur Gopalakrishna, Channareddy Patil Tunnur, Ashok Kumar Rai, Bhimanna T Naik, UB Banakar, S Suresh Kumar, CC Patil, Pradeep Eshwar, Prabhu Chavan, G Janardhana Reddy, M Y Patil, S R Srinivas, Nemiraj Naik, Ashok Pattan, Lata Mallikarjuna, Nayana Motamma, K Shadakshari, M T Krishnappa and K M Shivalinge Gowda were right on time on Tuesday, Khader said.

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The names of MLAs who were punctual on Wednesday will be announced on Thursday, he said.

Quota meeting after budget session: CM

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday assured a Valmiki community delegation that he will hold a meeting with the advocate-general and the law department after the budget session to clear "confusion" on reservation-related decisions made by the previous BJP government.

Valmiki pontiff Prasannananda Swami and MLAs from the community held talks with the CM. "Our government will recommend to the central government to include reservation under Schedule 9 of the Constitution. But before that, there's a need to remove all confusions created by the BJP government," the CM said, referring to the decision to hike SC quota from 15% to 17% and for STs from 3% to 7%.

The CM also assured the delegation that action will be taken on fake SC/ST certificates. "There is a demand that the Koli, Kabbaliga and Talwar communities of Raichur and Vijayapura should be included in the ST category. The Koli community claim themselves to be Talwars. These confusions should also be resolved. Only Talawars from Nayak community are included in the ST. This is a very sensitive issue and will be discussed with constitutional and legal experts," the CM said.