Karnataka - Udupi   

‘Leaders of Opposition can’t act like Cabinet Ministers’

Udupi: Deputy Chairman of State Planning Board D.H. Shankaramurthy said on Monday that Congress leaders such as Siddaramaiah and V.S. Ugrappa were unreasonable in demanding the power to conduct review meetings.

Speaking to presspersons here, Mr. Shankaramurthy said the power to conduct such meetings rested only with the executive branch of the Government.

Members of the Council of Ministers had the power to conduct such meetings because they had taken the oath of secrecy.

“While Opposition leaders enjoy Cabinet rank, they cannot act like Cabinet Ministers,” he said.

Mr. Shankaramurthy said there was no logic in the demand of KPCC president R.V. Deshpande that a White Paper on the State’s finances should be brought out. “When the Assembly is going to meet from July 9 to 24, they can ask questions regarding the State’s budget and other financial matters. We are ready to give all details,” he said.

In reply to a question, Mr. Shankaramurthy defended “Manthana-2” held at a resort on the outskirts of Bangalore.

The meeting had resulted in better coordination of various ministries.

It had resulted in taking the decision of extending the counselling process for transfer of government officials to all the departments. Earlier, the counselling was limited to the Department of Education.

Asked if such a meeting could not be held at the Vidhana Soudha, Mr. Shankaramurthy said people could have different viewpoints on the venue of the meeting. “But what is important are the results of such a meeting”. Mr. Shankaramurthy said the State Planning Board had been successful in utilising 95 per cent of the funds allocated to it. The biggest achievement of the board was the drawing up of Vision 2020 document. This document envisaged the development projects which should be implemented in the State to ensure that it was among the top in the country by 2020, he said.

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