Ignored, sidelined: Karnataka council chief says Speaker shut him out of decisions

Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti has expressed displeasure to Legislative Assembly Speaker UT Khader, accusing him of taking “unilateral” decisions and “ignoring” him in matters usually decided jointly.

In a letter dated September 8, Horatti complained to Khader that he was “not being consulted while drawing up official programmes” and said such unilateral decisions had left him “sad”.

He noted that he had “tolerated all these” but was disappointed to learn from other sources that the itinerary for the official trip had been finalised without his input.

Horatti wrote that he felt he did not “have the right to undertake study travel to the place of my choice” and questioned why the itinerary had been “drafted as per your convenience” while he was “being forced to participate in it.”

He pointed out that the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council are two faces of the same coin.

The disagreement appears to have stemmed from the preparation of the official travel plan to Barbados, where the Commonwealth conference is scheduled in October 2025. The nearly month-long delegation tour is set to begin on September 29 and conclude on October 27.

During this period, a team of legislators from Karnataka will travel to Florida, Barbados, Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Norway.

Drawing Khader’s attention to past incidents where he felt overlooked, Horatti said he was neither consulted nor his advice sought while organising the book festival on the Vidhana Soudha premises, the installation of laser lights at Vidhana Soudha, and the 11th India zonal conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).

“I was not even contacted for courtesy while drawing up plans. Unilaterally, press conference is being convened to announce them and I am seeing them in the media. Because of my long years in politics and close relationship with the chairpersons of Legislative Councils/ Assemblies in other States, I feel embarrassed in sharing details about the 11th regional CPA Commonwealth conference,” he said.

Horatti added that he hoped such situations would not recur in the future.

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