Yathindra now shelter committee chairman

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru | Mysuru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra has been handed a constitutional post as the Chairman of the Shelter Committee.

The order for the appointment was passed three weeks ago but it came to light on Sunday when Yathindra himself made the announcement.

The move was presumably to curtail criticism by the Opposition JD(S) and BJP as to why the CM’s son was participating in government events when he didn’t hold any official posts.

He had served as the Varuna MLA from 2018 to May 2023.

“It has been three months since the elections have elapsed. I didn’t have a constitutional post and wasn’t able to attend to work in the constituency (Varuna) in an official capacity. However, now I have been made the Shelter Committee Chairman, besides district and taluk KDP (Karnataka Development Programme) member. That is enough for me to function officially in the segment and from now I’ll try to resolve the problems of the people in the constituency in an official capacity,” Yathindra told mediapersons in Mysuru, adding that the order pertaining to the Shelter Committee post came three weeks ago while the KDP appointment happened last week.

JD(S) legislature party leader HD Kumaraswamy was especially vociferous in attacking Yathindra indirectly.

Back in July, he claimed that there had been a new tax namely YST, which was similar to the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The former CM even wondered aloud which “Athindra” (super power) was responsible for the transfers of officials, which have been coming in thick and fast since Congress came to power.

Kumaraswamy has on multiple occasions alleged that the State gover nment had been charging money from officials to comply with their transfer requests.