The Karnataka government on Monday celebrated the diamond jubilee of the state legislative assembly. The first session of the Assembly was held on June 18, 1952.
The event also witnessed the felicitation of five members of the first legislative assembly — U M Madappa (Chamarajangar, Mulka Govinda Reddy (Chitradurga) T G Thimme Gowda (Tiptur), Amba Das (Bdiar) and Vasanth Rao L Patil (Belgaum). Chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda and Siddaramaiah, leader of the opposition felicitated them in the Assembly hall.
Former Chief Justice of India M N Venkatachaliah, who delivered the keynote address said, “The compulsions of coalition politics have served to erode some fundamental conception of the Westminster model of Parliamentary democracy including an erosion of the authority of the chief ministers and the Prime Minister.”
He said the increasing political expedience of coalitions has made serious violation of the fundamental assumptions and basic rules of parliamentary democracy. For instance, a small party with only a handful of legislators helping some other political party to achieve a fragile majority bargains for representation in the government and the Chief Minister would in practice have no control over the behaviour of a member of his cabinet in view of the political compulsions of coalition politics. Virtually, there will be as many chief ministers as there are political parties in the coalition government, he said.
“A coalition government cannot be an excuse for dilution of the prime ministerial or chief ministerial leadership and primacy,” he said.
He said democracy provides the most favourable climate for development. “Democracy and growth are compatible. With only two exceptions, all of the world’s richest countries have the world’s most democratic regimes. Further, 42 of the 48 high human development countries are democracies. Democratic governance is the single largest input in the fight against poverty. An inclusive democracy is the single most significant factor in human development and it is better suited for managing conflicts and catastrophies,” he added.
Governor H R Bhardwaj presided over the function, while former speaker of the house and presently Lok Sabha member D B Chandre Gowda spoke about his experience as an Assembly member and also as the Speaker and advised the members how to behave in the house and serve the people of their constituencies.
Former Chief Ministers M Veerappa Moily, H D Kumaraswamy and N Dharam Singh and B S Yeddyurappa participated.
Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and former Speaker Ramesh Kumar did not participate due to their preoccupation.
Former MPs and sitting MPs of Karnataka, former speakers B G Banakar, V S Koujalagi, M V Venkatappa and Krishna and present members of both legislative assembly and council were present on the occasion.
A colourful and informative souvenir that has chronicled the past 60 years of state legislative assembly was released during the occasion.
The chief minister inaugurated the photo exhibition on Sunday.
