BELAGAVI: The issue of Ministers skipping question hour arose again in the Assembly on Wednesday with Speaker , K B Koliwad forced to defer a question posed to Mines and Geology Minister, Vinay Kulakarni in his absence.
Noting the poor attendance of Ministers, BJP members suggested the Speaker do a roll call once again. When Mr Koliwad called out their names, only five of the 18 Ministers needed for the session, were present.
Seeing Mr Kulkarni absent, he allowed Higher Education Minister, Basavaraj Rayareddy to respond to a question by Malur MLA, Manjunath Gowda to him, but the latter said was he not satisfied with it and only the Mines Minister would have all the information he needed.
Seizing the opportunity, Mr C T Ravi of the BJP wanted to know where Mr Kulakarni was, but Mr Koliwad admitted he had no idea about the Minister's whereabouts. BJP members then wanted to know if the rules permitted unauthorised absence of Ministers from the House, especially when they were supposed to give responses during question hour.
JD(S) floor leader, H D Kumaraswamy joked that as the Minister was in the forefront of the agitation for a separate religion status for the Lingayats, he could be at the ‘Dharma Prachara'.
Responding to all the bantering, Mr Koliwad said he would ask the Minister to be present in the House on Thursday to respond to Mr Manjunath Gowda's question.
