Speakers helpless, need to amend law to keep executive accountable: Joshi

Addressing Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who also attended the inaugural session of the conference, Joshi asked the CM to grant financial autonomy to the Assembly, becoming an example to the visiting Speakers from other states.

He said Speakers were “helpless” as neither could they call for a sitting of the House, as the Government and Governor were responsible for that, nor decide on the proceedings, which were decided by the Business Advisory Committee. “Once the House is called, we are the referees,” he said.

Joshi said the legislature can’t conduct effective scrutiny of the executive if it does not have an adequate number of sittings. He said the legislative rules had become irrelevant today and there was a need to revise them.

Later in his address to the conference, Gehlot said Joshi was a very “krantikaari neta” (revolutionary leader), leading to laughs from the dais, which included Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla — who are both former MLAs from Rajasthan.

The relationship between the two Congress leaders has been a topic of discussion over the years, with reports of a rivalry and tiffs emerging from time to time.