The monsoon sitting of the Karnataka assembly started Monday mostly in the backdrop of increasing Covid-19 instances in the region, with just about 60 MLAs, including seven ministers in quarantine.
A decision was made shortly after the start of the sitting to limit the deliberations to 6 days rather than the previously scheduled 8 days in consideration of the significant absences of the 224-member House.
Previously, the BJP government of Karnataka demonstrated its concern in introducing 32 bills just at the session, along with the finance bill, as well as a change to the State Fiscal Responsibility Act, the amendments to the labor, and agricultural land ownership laws along with the APMC Act.
A business advisory council meeting was held on Monday, where the opposition Congress maintained that only relevant bills should be debated in a short session while others should be debated in a lengthy session.
Well before the session started on Monday, CM BS Yediyurappa – Who flew to Bengaluru early Sunday even without BJP National Leader’s permission to extend his cabinet – told the media that the state had agreed to reduce the monsoon meeting to about 3 days.
Deputy Chief Minister Dr. C N Ashwath Narayan along with the Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and five other ministers, K Gopalaiah, Byrath Basavaraj, Prabhu Chavan, Shashikala Jolle as well as Shivaram Hebbar, are quarantined.
In the last several weeks, Karnataka has registered about 8,000 COVID 19 instances a day.