Karnataka Governor Gehlot walks out after reading out truncated speech at Assembly joint session; Siddaramaiah calls it ‘anti-constitutional’

He faced protests from Congress legislators, including MLCs BK Hariprasad and S Ravi, who were unhappy that the Governor failed to read out the full speech prepared by the state Cabinet. Shouting slogans, the Congress legislators followed the Governor as he walked out of the Assembly.

Speaking to reporters after sending the Governor off, Siddaramaiah said he would hold talks with Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister H K Patil and others about approaching the courts over the issue. “The Governor has acted like a puppet of the Union government. The Union government, to hide their mistakes, has forced them to read another speech. This is anti-constitutional,” he said, adding that it violated Articles 176 and 163 of the Constitution.

The Articles require the Governor to read the speech prepared by the Cabinet.

“This is a violation of the Constitution. This is an insult to the house of elected representatives. The Governor has not fulfilled his responsibility,” the Karnataka CM said, adding that the state government will protest the Governor’s attitude.

There were speculations about the Governor’s address since Wednesday evening, as Gehlot had expressed reservations about 11 paragraphs in the speech, which criticised the Union government. A delegation led by Patil had met the Governor Wednesday to convince him to read out the full speech.

After the House resumed, the treasury and opposition benches clashed. While the BJP accused the state government of insulting the Governor, the Congress accused Gehlot of disrespecting the national anthem and walking off as it was being played.

The speech prepared by the state Cabinet said that Karnataka was “facing a suppressive situation in economic and policy matters.” Another line opposed by the Governor a day earlier was regarding the repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which read, “My Government strongly condemns this anti-progressive measure.”

Karnataka becomes the third southern state, after Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where the government and the Governor faced off over the customary address at the joint session of the state legislature. While the Tamil Nadu Governor walked out without reading the speech, the Kerala Governor skipped parts critical of the Union government.