Assembly disrupted as BJP alleges cameras not showing its speakers

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Legislative Assembly was briefly disrupted on Tuesday as the opposition BJP alleged discrimination, claiming that cameras covering the proceedings were not showing their party members when they spoke in the House. They pointed out that during the coverage, the cameras focused on the Speaker whenever opposition MLAs were speaking, whereas this was not the case when ruling party legislators or ministers took the floor.

When the Leader of Opposition, R Ashoka, pressed for a discussion on the alleged irregularities in the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC), his deputy Arvind Bellad pointed out to the Speaker that Ashoka was not being shown on television screens while speaking.

He questioned whether there were instructions not to cover the opposition, saying, "The whole House is shown, the ruling side and ministers are shown, even the Chair and the Speaker are shown. But when the Leader of the Opposition is speaking, he is not shown. He is speaking on an important issue, and people should know." Bellad also noted that this issue was raised during the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting on Monday