Karnataka Congress boycotts Lok Sabha Speaker's address to joint sitting of State Legislature

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 24 : The Karnataka Congress said it has decided to boycott Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla's address to the joint sitting of the State Legislature which was scheduled for Friday, stating that such kind of address is "unprecedented and unconstitutional".
Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, Siddaramaiah told ANI here today, "Congress party has taken a decision to boycott the joint session which will be addressed by Lok Sabha Speaker today. BJP government is trying to create a new precedent in Karnataka Legislative Assembly. It has happened never before."
He added, "There is no such precedent where the Lok Sabha speaker comes down to Karnataka to address the legislature. There is no provision in the constitution for doing this."
Reacting to this, the Karnataka Higher Education Minister Dr Ashwathnarayan CN said, "It is for the people and lawmakers to strengthen, promote, interact and listen. Good things can always be promoted. If it is unprecedented, then the precedent is set for good reason."
Meanwhile, the Congress protest against fuel price hike continued today.
Congress MLA Ajay Singh said, "The tax that the BJP has collected through fuel price hike in the last five years is Rs 23 lakh crore. From January till June, there was a 43 times hike in fuel prices. In January, there was a hike in prices of petrol and diesel 10 times; in February, the prices were hiked by 16 times. But when elections were announced, the price of fuel was reduced by three times in March and April. Then after May 2, there was a rise in fuel prices by 16 times. So the intention of the government is to only focus on the election, not the people."