A high-level delegation led by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil is set to meet the Governor at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday evening in this regard.
Published Jan 21, 2026 | 7:50 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 21, 2026 | 7:50 PM
Thawaarchand Gehlot. (Facebook)
Synopsis: Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has refused to address a special joint session of the state legislature scheduled for 22 January, convened by the Congress government to discuss the Union government’s repeal of MGNREGA. The refusal comes just days after similar controversies in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where Governors RN Ravi and Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar respectively declined to deliver and altered the cabinet-approved addresses to their assemblies.
Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has refused to address the joint session of the state legislature, set to begin on Thursday, 22 January. The special session was called by the state government to discuss the Union government’s repeal of MGNREGA.
A high-level delegation led by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil is set to meet the Governor at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday evening in this regard.
The move is Gehlot’s first such refusal, but it comes days after governors in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, RN Ravi and Rajendra Vishawanath Arlekar, courted controversy for their conduct in their respective assemblies.
The ruling Congress in Karnataka announced earlier this month that it would convene a special session of the legislature after saying it would legally challenge the repeal of MGNREGA. At the time, Patil said the aim was to create awareness about the social and economic impact of the repeal.
He said the government could not avoid convening a session if the rights of the people of the state were being “snatched”. The state has consistently criticised several provisions of the VG-G RAM G Act, which replaced MGNREGA, saying they violate citizens’ right to work and livelihood as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
It has also said the new law would place a financial burden on the state orders of magnitude higher than under MGNREGA.
Kerala and Tamil Nadu legislatures inaugurated their final sessions on Tuesday. By convention, each session begins with a gubernatorial address. For the governor, this is a formality. The text is drafted and approved by the state cabinet.
In Tamil Nadu, Governor Ravi walked out of the assembly yet again, by now something of a tradition, refusing to deliver the address.
Soon after, Raj Bhavan issued a detailed statement listing 13 objections, including “misleading” investment claims, rising crimes, drug abuse, Dalit atrocities, and alleged governance lapses, for his refusal.
Ravi accused the government of repeatedly preventing him from speaking by switching off his microphone and said he was not allowed to place his views on record. He said the address contained unsubstantiated and misleading statements and ignored issues of serious concern to the people of the state.
In Kerala, Governor Arlekar did deliver the address but made several edits of his own, chiefly by omitting sections critical of the Union government.
This drew Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s ire. He said the deletions were not innocuous.
They included references to Kerala’s fiscal stress, attributed to “adverse Union Government actions” that undermine fiscal federalism; concerns over Bills passed by the legislature remaining pending with the Governor for long periods; and a clear assertion that tax devolution and Finance Commission grants are constitutional entitlements, not acts of charity.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
