Opposition members in Karnataka sleep overnight in Council Hall

The Opposition Congress in Karnataka created “history of sorts” when they slept overnight on the floor of the Legislative Council hall in Belgaum as a mark of protest against the “irresponsible” reply given by the Government on the calamity relief work in northern parts of the State.

The proceedings of the Legislative Council went on till the wee hours of Friday after the Opposition Congress members highlighted the distress among farmers of Koppal and different parts of northern Karnataka, which are reeling under a spell of drought.

Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar, who started his reply in the small hours of Friday, denied the Opposition charge that farmers were migrating to neighbouring states in search of livelihood and the scenario was not as bad as the Congress members were trying to paint.

Dissatisfied with the Government’s reply on the matter, a couple of Congress members led by Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Mr H K Patil decided against leaving the House as a mark of protest. “We will sleep in the Council hall itself overnight”, he said.

Though Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa arrived in the Council at that hour and requested the Congress members to call off their agitation, his efforts went in vain. The Congress members including H K Patil, V R Sudarshan and Prakash Rathod slept on the carpet of the Legislative Council Hall overnight.

Deputy Chief Minister Yediyurappa too slept in the chambers of the Legislative Council Chairman in the same premises after his efforts to convince the Opposition Congress to call off their agitation failed.

Later in the morning, Yediyurappa described the Congress members decision to sleep in the Council Hall overnight as a “publicity gimmick”.

The session resumed on Friday morning as usual with Yediyurappa offering to accompany the Congress members to villages, where farmers had been put to extreme hardships on account of the drought.

Meanwhile, the five-day special legislature session convened by the Karnataka Government in Belgaum came to an end on Friday. For the first time in its history, Karnataka was holding its legislature session outside the state capital in the border town of Belgaum. The Jawaharal Nehru Medical College in Belgaum served as the venue for the historic legislature session of Karnataka