Bengaluru, Mar 17 (PTI) The motion of thanks to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot's address to the joint session of the Karnataka legislation was passed amid a walkout by the opposition BJP on Monday.

The BJP staged the walkout, expressing its displeasure over Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's reply for not addressing the issues it had raised.

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The Leader of the Opposition, R Ashoka, alleged that the chief minister did not speak about the riot in Mysuru, broad daylight robbery in Bidar and 30 deaths due to microfinance companies.

Siddaramaiah refuted the opposition's charges that the Governor's address was a lie.

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"The Governor did not speak lie on the performance of our government during the joint address. Whatever he said was true. All the 117 paragraphs he read are true. Governor does not read whatever we give them. He takes only those points which are true," he explained.

Regarding the Metro Rail fare hike in Bengaluru, the chief minister said it was done by the Centre and the state has no role to play. He read out the rule for metro rail fare fixation.

"The Central government may from time to time constitute a fare fixation committee for the purpose of recommending fare for the carriage of passengers by the Metro Railway."

"A sitting judge of the High Court shall be appointed after consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court," the chief minister said, adding that it's a Central government call.

He said when the BJP was in power from 2019 to 2023, it had twice written to the Centre to call the fare fixation committee to revise metro rail fare.

"You wrote on February 10, 2020 and April 3, 2021. After you wrote, the Centre on September 7, 2024 constituted a three-member committee, which gave its report on December 16, 2024. After their report, the fares were revised on February 9, 2025," Siddaramaiah pointed out.

He added that though he did not have powers to interfere with the fare, when people complained to him, he spoke to the Managing Director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and told him to address the anomalies.

Within his limits, the MD tried to address the grievance, the chief minister said, adding that once the committee gives its report, its recommendation cannot be changed.

"If you try, something can be done. Metro fare hike is not in our hands. It's done by the Centre and the state. State appoints its MD, who is the member of the fare revision committee, the two others are appointed by the Centre," Sidaramaiah explained.

Regarding farmers' suicides, the chief minister claimed it has come down in the last one year.

Usually 1,200 suicides happen in a year, but till February, 644 deaths have taken place. Of them, 527 are the genuine cases, he noted.

"Reduction in farmers' suicides does not mean that we are happy. We don't want any farmer to take such an extreme step," Siddaramaiah said.

According to him, 821 farmers suicide had taken place in 2020-21, 1,044 in 2021-22, 1,049 in 2022-23, 1,250 in 2023-24 and 644 in 2024-25.

The chief minister also said that the state government will give Rs 7,000 crore for the development of Bengaluru in the next fiscal.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)