Bengaluru: Janata Dal (Secular) leader and former Chief Minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy slammed the current BS Yediyurappa-led government over the ban, which disallows national and regional private TV channels from covering the proceedings of Karnataka Assembly live.
"They are trying to gag the media and the fourth pillar of democracy is being stopped in its work. I condemn this.. and reject such a move by the speaker," he said after meeting the journalists who are staging a protest against the gag.
HDK said that there had been a proposal from the state Home ministry during his time in office. He had, however, refused the proposal. "The media must not stop us while are walking the corridors of Vidhan Soudha, but we must make facilities instead for them to ask questions," he said.
BS Yediyurappa on Thursday had said that he would appeal Karnatak Assembly speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri to recall the ban, which was issued ahead of the three-day winter session of the Assembly.
"My government is always committed to freedom of media. I will make sincere effort and request speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri to reconsider his decision on barring media from telecasting the house proceedings," BSY had tweeted.
The Assembly was likely to see a heated debate after raids by the Income Tax department on property owned by former Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader G Parameshwara.
The I-T department is said to have recovered Rs 5 crore in cash in the search and seizure operations.
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