Law Minister opts out of debate on NK after Opposition objection

In an interesting development, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil on Thursday decided to withdraw himself from participating in the ongoing debate in the Assembly on the issues related to North Karnataka after the Opposition members raised objections on the grounds that there was no precedence of the Ministers taking part in such a debate.

The Law Minister, a veteran politician hailing from North Karnataka, had showed interest in participating in the legislature debate on development of North Karnataka.

However, when he rose to begin his speech on Thursday, Leader of the Opposition R. Ashok objected by arguing that there was no precedence of the ministers participating in the debates.

“The Ministers can only make statements by obtaining the Speaker’s permission, but not participate in any debate. Generally, the Ministers will have the last word like a judge. If they themselves, while participating in the debate, helplessly refer to lacunae, it would send a wrong signal,” he argued.

But Mr. Patil argued that he had already taken the permission of the Chief Minister and the Speaker, and he would only offer suggestions on the development of North Karnataka, he said.

He maintained that several Ministers and former Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri himself had participated in the debate on Constitution and electoral reforms during the regime of the erstwhile BJP government.

But BJP leader Sunil Kumar made it clear that those two debates were completely different as the government had not replied to them.

Finally, Mr. Patil himself opted out the debate, while stating that he did not want to go against the sentiments of the Opposition members.