Bengaluru: After Tamil Nadu and Kerala, it’s the turn of Karnataka to see a faceoff between the state govt and Raj Bhavan over the governor’s customary address to the joint sitting of the legislature.Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot, who is scheduled to deliver the address Thursday, has reportedly declined to read the speech unless portions “critical of the Centre” are removed. The govt has refused to alter the text, maintaining the address reflects cabinet-approved concerns over what it terms injustice meted out to Karnataka by the Union govt in recent times. The big question is: Will the governor read the text in entirety or skip unfavourable paragraphs?While the govt sent the draft address to the governor Monday, Raj Bhavan returned it Wednesday with instructions “to delete the contentious portions”. At the heart of the dispute are 11 of the 100-plus-paragraph speech. These sections refer to the Centre’s move to replace Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act with the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission–Gramin Act, and detail the state’s grievances over issues such as tax devolution and allocation of funds to irrigation projects. CM Siddaramaiah deputed a delegation led by law and parliamentary affairs minister HK Patil to Raj Bhavan to persuade the governor to go ahead with the address. Gehlot remained firm on his stand. “The govt is ready to make changes to the speech to rectify technical errors or discrepancies, if any. But the governor wants us to delete the entire 11 paras and it is unacceptable. We still hope the governor will perform his constitutional duty by addressing the joint sitting and we will think about the steps to be taken if he refuses to come to the legislature,” said the CM’s legal adviser, AS Ponnanna, who was part of the delegation.Late night, the govt agreed to make changes in seven of the 11 disputed paragraphs, but decided against dropping paragraph No. 11, which deals with MGNREGA. While the governor’s office insisted the scheme is not repealed and it has been “technically modified”, the govt decided to retain the paragraph without any changes, stating removal of any content that safeguards the interests of the state.Siddaramaiah late Wednesday evening convened a meeting of senior officials and legal experts to discuss the possible course of action. The govt was considering legal options against the governor on the charge of neglecting constitutional obligations.“Articles 176 (1), 163 and other clauses of the Constitution of India clearly mandate the governor to address the joint sitting at the first legislature session of the year. The customary address is the statement of the govt to record its policies and plans ahead of the year. It is its privilege to mention the challenges it faced such as revenue losses suffered due to ill-implementation of GST, reduction in tax devolution and the Centre denial of funds to the irrigation projects like Upper Bhadra despite announcing in the Union budget. We even had to move the Supreme Court to get the central grants for drought relief in the past. The governor should create such a situation to force us to take similar measures,” law minister Patil said.Constitutional experts said while the governor, as the head of the state, is expected to act on the advice of the cabinet, he does have limited discretion. They insisted that the Constitution mandates the governor to deliver the address to the joint sitting of the legislature.They cited recent precedents where governors chose alternative routes during similar confrontations. Kerala governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar skipped certain paragraphs during his address earlier this week, while Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi walked out without reading the speech.“The govt can table the full speech in the legislature if the governor skips certain paragraphs. But the governor has to come to the legislature to deliver the address. In the case of West Bengal, the Supreme Court has clearly said that the legislative session cannot continue without the governor delivering the address,” said former advocate general Ashoka Haranahalli.
