A meeting convened by All India Congress Committee (AICC) leaders on Saturday to elicit legislators’ views on strengthening the party turned out to be a grievance redressal forum of sorts. Legislators vented their ire against Ministers and even at the Chief Minister’s “style of functioning”.
The MLAs — who were heard in batches of 20 by the AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Digvijaya Singh, and AICC secretaries A. Chella Kumar and Shanthakumar, at the KPCC office here — are said to have complained that the Chief Minister is always “surrounded by a coterie of flatterers” who keep him out of reach of party loyalists. They are said to have expressed apprehensions that the party might not win the panchayat elections if the situation did not improve.
Several issues, including the delay in release of development grants, “non-cooperation” of Ministers on transfer of officials, and the chaos in allotment of houses to the poor, were also raised, sources said. While an MLA from Kalaburagi district wanted the government to expedite the process of allotting houses before the panchayat elections, a legislator from Raichur district attributed the poor response for the party’s membership drive to the cumbersome procedures involved in getting enrolled. Sources said some legislators also suggested that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should lead the party as she could woo the voters better than others.
The AICC leaders are learnt to have directed the district in-charge Ministers to convene a party workers’ meeting once in three months and brief them about the government’s achievements.
KPCC president G. Parameshwara told reporters that the Chief Minister may take up Cabinet expansion after the upcoming legislature session.
