Bangalore: The live telecast of the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly by Doordarshan was dispensed with on Friday after Opposition members objected to only Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's reply to the bribery charge against him being shown while what they had said during the debate in the House in the past two days had not been telecast.

Interestingly, it was Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa who won the day for those opposed to the live telecast. He appealed to Speaker Krishna to adjourn the House to save the Government the embarrassment of facing the ire of the Opposition following the decision to telecast live only the Chief Minister's reply.

The appeal was accepted by the Speaker, who adjourned the House and convened a meeting in his chambers to discuss the issue.

Immediately after the House assembled in the morning, Vatal Nagaraj (Kannada Chaluvali) and G.V. Srirama Reddy (CPI-M) objected to the presence of Doordarshan cameramen in the House. Mr. Nagaraj said it was discriminatory since Doordarshan did not telecast the speeches of Opposition members.

Mr. Nagaraj accused the Speaker of being partisan in enabling the Chief Minister's reply to be telecast live and demanded that it should not be allowed.

The Speaker's explanation that the Government had requested him on July 12 to permit the telecast of speeches by Opposition members did not carry conviction with them. They staged a dharna and got into an argument with the Chair.

M. Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress) and Mr. Nagaraj said the practice was to allow the live telecast of the Governor's address to the joint session of the legislature and the presentation of the budget, but not the Chief Minister's reply.

Mr. Yediyurappa agreed with the view that it was not a good convention to allow live telecast of only the Chief Minister's reply. After talks in his chambers, the Speaker withdrew the permission given to Doordarshan to telecast the proceedings live.

The current session witnessed the live telecast of the Chief Minister's marathon reply on the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project controversy some days ago.

In Council

The issue figured in the Legislative Council too with the Congress member V.S. Ugrappa stating that it was unfair on the part of the Government to make arrangements for the live telecast of the Chief Minister's reply to the politically sensitive issue while ignoring the discussions in both Houses of the legislature.

The decision to organise the live telecast only in the Assembly was an insult to the Council. The Government should apologise for its biased decision. Besides, it should also make clear whether Doordarshan would telecast the Chief Minister's reply voluntarily or for a fee. If it was free, the Director of Bangalore Doordarshan should clarify why he was keen on the telecast of only the reply to the debate on the bribery charge. If it was a paid service the Government had to explain because it was the taxpayers' money that was being used.

Supporting him, V.R. Sudarshan (Congress) said the House had constituted a committee to discuss the pros and cons of the live telecast of proceedings. Its recommendation in favour of live telecast could not be enforced owing to financial constraints. However, it was wrong on the part of the Government to take undue interest in projecting the proceedings of one House of the legislature at the cost of the other, he said.

Leader of the Opposition H.K. Patil commented that the Government's decision to arrange the live telecast of the Chief Minister's reply, hiding vital aspects of the allegations against him, would amount to a "criminal act."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail