On January 22, pandemonium broke out in the Karnataka Assembly on the first day of the joint session, which begins on January 22, 2026, when Governor Thawarchand Gehlot walked out after delivering a short two-line speech.

The governor had expressed his reservations in 11 paragraphs in a speech prepared by the Congress government in Karnataka, which included strong criticism of the central government for introducing the VB-G RAM G Act.

Immediately after the governor’s strike, CM Siddaramaiah condemned the action as “unconstitutional”. “The governor has acted as a puppet of the central government. To cover up its own mistakes, the central government made him read a prepared speech. This is a violation of the constitution,” he said.

Mr. Gehlot took the podium and began his speech with the customary opening remarks. Then he began reading the last lines of his speech. “My government is fully committed to doubling the rate of economic and social development of the state. Jai Hind, Jai Karnataka,” the Governor said, concluding and leaving the House.

Governor Thawarchand Gehlot will leave his seat after delivering a short two-line speech on the first day of the joint parliamentary session on January 22, 2026. Photo courtesy: Special Arrangement

CM accepts strong exceptions

Explaining the constitutional role of the governor to address the annual joint session and the inauguration of a new government, Siddaramaiah said, “The governor cannot read the speech prepared by himself. He has to read the speech prepared by the cabinet.”

The Karnataka government has convened a special session of Parliament from January 22 to 31 to discuss the repeal of MGNREGA and its replacement with the VB-G RAM G Act.

“Twenty years ago, the Manmohan Singh government enacted the Right to Employment, Right to Food, Right to Education and Right to Information Act, which implemented the Directive Principles of National Policy.NREGA, 2005, guaranteed 100 days of employment to Dalits, 50% women and other areas including marginalized sections of villages and even their own farms.VB G Ram G As per the law, the central government will decide where they should work.Under the old law, action was required.”The plan was prepared by local panchayats, but this too has been removed under the new law,” the CM said.

“We opposed this and the cabinet included this protest and our demand to reinstate the 2005 MGNREGA in the governor’s speech.However, the governor did not read the speech prepared by the cabinet and instead read the Wampara speech prepared by the governor. By reading this, it is a violation of constitutional norms. This is also an insult to the elected House. Our government, party and MLAs will protest against this. We will stage protests across the state,” Siddaramaiah added.

Similar actions have taken place in Tennessee and Kerala.

This is the third showdown between the governor and the state government in the past two days in the state, which is not ruled by the BJP.

Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Tuesday (January 20, 2026) left the state Assembly without delivering his customary address in the House on the opening day of this year’s first legislative session, alleging “inaccuracies” in the text. Similarly, Rajendra Viswanath Alrekar of Kerala was also said to have “omitted” parts of his speech, with Lok Bhavan claiming that his proposals had been left out of the original draft.

(With inputs from PTI)