The over two-decade-old demand of legislators to have their own club could be gathering pace with Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri on Monday announcing that it has been unanimously decided to have a Constitution Club located at Balabrooie Guest House, close to the Vidhana Soudha.
While the demand had gathered pace in 2016 when a proposal was mooted to set up a Constitution Club at Carlton House, which houses the Criminal Investigation Department, it had encountered opposition from within the government. The proposal was subsequently dropped.
An earlier proposal had identified the heritage Balabrooie Guest House, which had also run into opposition.
The Constitution Club in Bengaluru will be modelled on Delhi’s Constitution Club and will be named the Karnataka Legislature Institute. “It has been decided to have the club at Balabrooie. The heritage structure will not be affected and a few facilities will be introduced to start the club,” Mr. Kageri told reporters. He said a club meant for legislators had been under discussion for several years, and the decision to start it was taken during the just-concluded legislature session.
“The Chief Secretary has been directed to take steps to start the club. Legislators need a forum for discussions and the proposal has been there for some years now,” he said, adding that he would visit the Constitution Club in Delhi to study its functioning. More than 250 legislators and former legislators had paid membership money over a decade ago when the proposal gathered momentum.
Meanwhile, the Speaker also said it was a good development that the Congress had announced that it would not hold dharna in the House, and that there were no adjournments during the recently held monsoon session. He said the 10-day session had seen the Assembly passing 19 Bills after healthy discussion.
