BJP MLAs stage walk out over RDPR varsity bill

NT Correspondent

Belagavi

The principal Opposition BJP staged a walk-out of the Assembly at Belagavi's Suvarna Vidhana Soudha on Tuesday over the insistence of the ruling Congress in passing the Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University (Amendment) Bill. The Bill seeks to replace the Governor as the default Vice Chancellor (VC) of the varsity with the Chief Minister. Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister Priyank Kharge, who presented the Bill, insisted that the motive was to streamline the functioning of the university with the objectives of the State government, adding that it would help them promote innovation and the like.

The Opposition on the other hand said that the proposed law sidelined the Governor and whatever little powers he had under the constitution. Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the Assembly R Ashoka said that the State government was needlessly digging a “trench” between themselves and the Governor. “You should have explained what the problem was with the Governor in his functioning as the VC before replacing him. The other thing I’ve heard is people saying that similar laws have been passed in Gujarat. Okay. Then please declare you’re moving towards the Gujarat model,” Ashoka said. To this Energy Minister, KJ George said: “Gujarat is a state of the country. If they’ve done something right, we’ll adopt what they’ve done. We’ll similarly emulate Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu or any other state if what they’ve done is good.” BJP MLA CN Ashwath Narayan on the other hand termed the Bill as “retrograde” and suggested that they replace the Governor with a board of Governors for division of powers.

Priyank on the other hand insisted that the Bill wasn’t politically motivated and was instead about ensuring better administration. He also pointed out that the BJP had passed several similar Bills in various states. Denying the notion that the Governor had become an obstacle in the functioning of the varsity, he said: “If it (the Bill) allows me function better, then why not?” “Even after all these discussions, if they want to push these Bills, I’d like to say they’re digging a trench between themselves and the Governor. Therefore, in protest of this Bill, we’re staging a walkout,” Ashoka said after about 45 minutes of debate on the issue. The Bill was passed in the Assembly after the walk-out. It is to be noted that the relationship between Karnataka Gover nor Thaawarchand Gehlot and the State government has been strained ever since the former sanctioned a probe against CM Siddaramaiah in the Muda scam.