In an effort to douse the simmering discontent among Congress legislators over several issues related to their Assembly constituencies, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar will start confabulations with them from Monday.
Legislators from Tumakuru, Yadgir, Chitradurga, Bagalkot, Ballari and Dharwad will be attending the meeting along with the district in-charge Ministers. Similarly, legislators from other districts will be attending the meetings later, party sources said.
The meeting has been necessitated after irked legislators wrote to the Chief Minister and also later raised the issue at the Congress Legislature Party meeting last month over a host of issues pertaining to their constituencies that have not been addressed. Earlier last week, the issue also came up with the Congress high command in Delhi when State leaders had been summoned to discuss the preparations for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Party sources said that the simmering discontent among the legislators, many of whom aspired a Cabinet berth but missed out, was about the transfers of officials and allocation to the constituencies for development works. “The Chief Minister’s Office has been blamed for the transfer mess. A majority of the requests placed by the legislators have not been met so far that has riled the legislators.”
Further, sources said that the huge allocation of funds to the five pre-poll guarantees that has reduced allocation to many departments has resulted in reduction of funds for development works at the constituency level. “The issue is also likely to resonate at the meeting that has been called to address these issues,” party sources said.
Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar told reporters on Sunday that he and the Chief Minister had assured legislators that they would meet and speak to them following which legislators of some districts have been invited on Monday.
