Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held discussions with Congress legislators from six districts amid reports of discontent within the ruling party. The discussions focused on development work in their constituencies and the functioning of the government and its ministers.
The chief minister met separately with MLAs from Raichur, Vijayapura, Koppal, Belagavi, Haveri, and Kalaburagi districts. This followed a meeting on the previous day with MLAs from Tumakuru, Yadgir, Chitradurga, Bagalkot, Ballari, and Dharwad.
The discussions took place at the Home Office ‘Krishna’ and included Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar. The MLAs discussed the allocation of funds to their constituencies and the fulfillment of promises made to the people ahead of the polls.
The chief minister explained to the MLAs that the implementation of the five ‘guarantee schemes’ and their financial implications would affect major developmental projects this year. However, he assured them that priority works would still be taken up.
The meeting is significant because of growing discontent within the ruling party. Around 30 legislators recently wrote to the chief minister and party leadership expressing concern over the non-implementation of development works in their constituencies and the functioning of certain ministers.
Some legislators are unhappy about not being able to get work done in their constituencies and not receiving requested transfers of government servants. They also allege that certain ministers are not cooperating with them.
During a Congress Legislature Party meeting last month, senior MLA B R Patil threatened to resign due to “self-respect” issues. He warned that their fight would continue if the behavior and conduct of certain ministers were not corrected.
