Belagavi (PTI): The opposition BJP and ruling Congress legislators expressed their strong objection over the delay in the convening of Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Monday, as it met for the winter session at ‘Suvarna Vidhana Soudha’ here, one hour late than the scheduled time.

Soon after ‘Vande Mataram’ was sung and preamble of the Constitution read after the House met for the day at around noon, instead of the scheduled time of 11 am, senior MLAs — Suresh Kumar of BJP and Basavaraj Rayareddy of Congress — expressed their strong objections to Speaker U T Khader over the delay.

“The House was called to meet at 11 am, it has been an hour, it’s noon now. What message are we sending out to the people? On the first day itself without any reason, one hour delay. I would like to say that you have not sent a right message through this House,” Suresh Kumar said.

Rayareddy too expressed his strong reservations about the delay.

“There are rules of procedure and conduct of business in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly regarding what time the session has to be convened and how, you should have read it. There are also references in (M N) Kaul and (S L) Shakdher (Compilation on Practice and rocedure of Parliament) as to how the sessions should start and when. There is a feeling outside the House that when the session happens in Belagavi, it doesn’t happen properly and such things come in newspapers,” he said.

Stating that such a thing brings a bad name to north Karnataka region, Rayareddy referring as to how Lok Sabha is convened on time, urged the Speaker to begin the house proceedings at the time announced. “Whether someone comes or not, start the proceedings on time, if someone doesn’t come on time it is a shame on them…you may have delayed due to various reasons, inform the House about it and ensure there is no delay and the house meets on time.” BJP legislator Basangouda Patil Yatnal, on his part urged that the discussion on north Karnataka related issues should begin from today itself; if not he will stage a protest.

“Every year the discussion on north Karnataka is scheduled during the last two days of the Belagavi session when most legislators and Ministers are not there. Please take up issues of north Karnataka and political injustice happening to the region, from today itself,” he said.

Speaker Khader in his response said, the House should begin its proceedings on time and there are rules regarding it, but due to certain reasons and circumstances there will be some delay some times, and all legislators should also cooperate with attendance for the House to be convened on time.

He said, the session has been called to discuss issues relating to the entire state and north Karnataka, and let’s all work accordingly.

Later, the House paid obituary reference to six former members of the House including former Minister and Speaker D B Chandre Gowda, who passed away recently.

It also paid rich tributes to five soldiers of the Indian army — including Captain M V Pranjal from Karnataka — who were killed during an encounter with terrorists in Rajouri sector of Jammu and Kashmir last month.

Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka, noting that the state government has already announced compensation to Pranjal’s family, requested the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to help the family in whatever way it can, while BJP MLA Umanatha Kotian urged the government to take measures and do whatever possible to immortalise the name of the late soldier and his legacy.

Rayareddy, on his part suggested that the legislature bring out a book on Chandre Gowda and his contributions.