Karnataka Congress boycotts Lok Sabha Speaker's address to joint session

Karnataka Leader of the Opposition in Legislative Assembly, Siddaramaiah said there is no constitutional provision of Lok Sabha Speaker addressing joint session of state legislature. The Congress party staged protest against skyrocketing fuel prices by entering Vidhan Soudha in a horse cart.

Bengaluru:Karnataka Congress boycotted Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's address in the joint session of the Assembly on Friday. Leader of the Opposition in Legislative Assembly, Siddaramaiah said there has been no precedent of Lok Sabha speaker addressing joint session. The Congress party members boycotted the Assembly session at the beginning of the day raising the issue of price hike.

While speaking to media, Siddaramaiah said, "There is no provision in the Constitution or in the rule book to invite the Speaker of the Lok Sabha to address the joint session. Since Vidhan Soudha started functioning, no speaker of Lok Sabha came and addressed the joint session."

Enlisting reasons for boycotting, Siddaramaiah said, "Speaker of Legislative Council has not discussed about Om Birla addressing the joint session with Leader of Opposition in Upper House. The Speaker and government are not ready to discuss people's problems."

Congress leaders including Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar staged protest from KPCC office to Vidhana Soudha. As a mark of protest against skyrocketing fuel and essential commodities prices, they entered Vidhan Soudha in a horse cart.

Speaking to media, DK Shivakumar said, "Our struggle will continue until the Central government reduces the prices of fuel and essential commodities. We have started this protest as a responsible opposition party and will continue until we succeed."

"We are protesting against the central government's price rise policy. If the government does not control it, we will intensify protest," Siddaramaiah said.

The 10-day Monsoon Session began on September 13.