Congress to table 11 Bills, wary of Council numbers

NT Correspondent

Belagavi

As the Congress State government is set to table at least 11 Bills in the winter session set to begin in Belagavi’s Suvarna Vidhana Soudha on Monday, it is wary of not having a majority in the Upper House of the State Legislature. As it stands, Congress has 33 MLCs while Opposition BJP and JD(S) boast of 29 and eight seats respectively in the 75-member Council. Saffron party-appointee Basavaraj Horatti is the Chairman. Lakhan Jarkiholi is the lone independent in the House, which currently has three vacancies. The Grand Old Party faces no such problem in the Assembly where it maintains a robust 136-member majority excluding the Speaker UT Khader.

They can also count on the support of ally MLA from Melukote and Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha (SKP) leader Darshan Puttannaiah. The two independent MLAs are also on good terms with the ruling party. A two-thirds majority is required to pass a Bill in each house before it can get the Governor's assent and become law. If Congress hits the 38 seat mark in the Council, it can elect its own Chairman but Horatti will remain for now. The ruling party will also be leaning on the lone independent Lakhan, Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi’s younger brother, to pass their Bills. In the last session, the BJP had blocked the passage of the temple management Bill and the Souharda cooperative amendment Bill in the Council.

This time around, the legislative business will include the Karnataka Labour Welfare Fund (Amendment) Bill, the Karnataka Groundwater Regulations and Control of Development and Management Amendment Bill, the Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University Amendment Bill, Basavana Bagewadi Development Authority Bill, Chanakya University (Amendment) Bill, Karnataka Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, among others. Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill (GBGB) will be also introduced a second time after changes made to it by a Joint House Committee.

3 seats up for grabs: However, what comes as a silver lining for the Congress is the fact that there are three vacancies in the Council. The terms of two Congressmen UB Venkatesh and Prakash Rathod have expired. Meanwhile, CP Yogeshwar quit as BJP MLC and contested the Channapatna Assembly by-poll on a Congress ticket and won. Moreover, the term of senior JD(S) MLC KA Thippeswamy will expire on January 27 next year.

This would mean four seats being up for grabs. If Congress wins them all, they will have brought their numbers up to 37. Otherwise, Congress will have to wait until June 2026 when the terms of seven MLCs will expire. In addition to that, the terms of five nominated members will expire on July 21 next year. It is to be noted that the latter five includes one of the seats currently left vacant.