Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai promises a winter assembly at Suvarna Soudha

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has promised to hold the Winter Assembly session at Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi this December. The Chief Minister said If the plan of holding a winter Assembly session materialises, then the State Assembly will be held at the Suvarna Soudha for the first time since 2018.

The Chief Minister said on Saturday that the Directorate of Sugarcane Development and Sugar will start operating from October 3. He further announced that a few other government offices will be shifted as well one week after the beginning of the winter session. After reaching Belagavi on Saturday, CM Bommai told the reporters that the state government has provided compensation to the victims of the floods during the 2019-2020 year. Several people saw their property and crops getting damage. He said, "Former CM BS Yediyurappa had announced compensation amount, ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh, depending upon the severity of the damage caused. As many as 44,205 houses were damaged and the government has disbursed compensation to all those houses. With regard to crop damage, we have disbursed Rs 263 crore to 1.56 farmers."

The conversion could be introduced in the winter assembly

It is highly likely that the State government’s high command could propose the new anti-conversion law during the winter assembly. A law to prevent the forcible conversion of religion was recently discussed in the assembly after a BJP MLA accused the Church officials of forcing his own mother into switching religions. If given the all-clear, Karnataka would be the fourth state to have such a law after Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

State Home Minister Araga Jnanendra said in the assembly, “The issue (of religious conversions) has come to the government’s notice. Converting people from one religion to another by inducing them is a punishable offense. We will keep a vigil on such activities. There is a wide network working on religious conversions across the country and we will soon bring an anti-conversion bill to rein them in.” MLA Shekar said in detail about the incident involving his own mother. He claimed that his mother was dragged to a church by people from the church and was told to not apply sindoor anymore. She was also told to remove everything that represented Hinduism from her household and to listen to only Christian hymns.

(With inputs from ANI)