Karnataka: Belagavi assembly session likely to be stormy

The ten-day assembly session beginning from December 10 at 'Suvarna Soudha', the legislature complex in Belagavi, is likely to be stormy as the opposition BJP has planned to highlight the alleged injustice to farmers inside and outside the assembly, the party said Friday.

A 'mega' farmers' rally would be held outside the Suvarna Soudha, modelled on the Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat in Bengaluru, the party said.

Inside the assembly, the Bharatiya Janata Party would highlight its findings on the government's "failure" to carry out relief work in the drought and flood-hit regions, state unit chief B S Yeddyurappa told reporters after the legislative party meeting.

Prior to the assembly session, six teams, comprising party leaders, would fan out to various parts of the state to review the damage due to drought and flood and government's "failure" to provide relief to the affected people, he said.

"On December 10 at 1 pm, more than a lakh farmers will stage a demonstration (near Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi). Inside the assembly, we will highlight the plight of farmers," Yeddyurappa said.

Led by former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, union minister D V Sadananda Gowda, former deputy chief minister R Ashok, K S Eshwarappa, Srinivas Pujar and union minister Ramesh Jigajinagi, these teams would start touring from December 3-6, he said. 

BJP state general secretary Arvind Limbavali said, "The Centre has already released funds for flood-affected Kodagu but the state government failed to make good use of them."

Limbavali said the party would also highlight the issue of farmers committing suicide, unsuccessful farm loan waiver, drought situation in the state and various demands of the farmers during the session.

On the rally outside Suvarna Soudha, Limbavali claimed people from Belgavi, Bagalkote, Bijapur, Dharwad, Gadag and Haveri and Bombay-Karnataka region would take part.

The party also introspected its performance in the recent bypolls at Shivamogga, Mandya, Ramanagar, Ballari and Jamkhandi.

While the BJP blamed "misuse" of government machinery for its debacle, the party accepted that some leaders did not take the bypolls seriously. "We did deliberate the  shortcomings in our party, mainly caste based politics and misuse of money power. The ruling party used them meticulously. Also, some leaders had a feeling that the bypolls will not happen and hence, they did not work hard," Limbavali said.

In the November 3 bypolls, the BJP won the Shivamogga Lok Sabha seat but lost Ballari to the Congress, which also bagged the Jamkhandi assembly segment. Congress' coalition partner JDS won the Mandya Lok Sabha constituency and in Ramanagara assembly constituency, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha was elected.

This would be the first assembly session for the coalition government in Belagavi after coming to power in the State. Belagavi in north Karnataka, bordering Maharashtra, has been hosting the legislature session once a year since 2006.

(With inputs from agencies.)