Meet MLAs’ demands, CM tells ministers

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting was convened following a demand from Congress legislators and was held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at a private hotel in the city on Thursday.

Over 20 ruling party MLAs headed by a senior Congress MLA Basavaraj Rayaraddi, submitted a letter to the CM seeking convening of the CLP meeting in the wake of the ‘indifferent’ attitude of some ministers in the last two months.

Interestingly, miffed Congress MLC B.K.Hariprasad also attended the meeting. Deputy Chief Minister D.K.Shivakumar, all ministers and legislators were present.

A legislator on the condition of anonymity told News Trail that the CM opined it was not proper on the part of Rayaraddi to write a letter and to make it public as it would embarrass the Congress Government.

The MLAs were free to meet him personally anytime to vent their grievances. Siddaramaiah gave a patient hearing to the MLAs’ grievances and instructed the ministers to attend to any work sought by any MLA.

Their demand for the development of their constituencies must be met by the ministers. Henceforth, complaints must not come to him from MLAs against ministers, and if received, they would be considered seriously.

The MLAs requested the CM to release additional funds for their constituencies as it would help the party to win the coming Lok Sabha polls.

The implementation of the five guarantee schemes has come as a big blessing for them to win over people, they said. The CM promised to convene the CLP regularly to allow the legislators air their grievances freely