BJP members, including MLA Sanjay Patil, protested against the alleged violation of protocol in the Belagavi City Corporation on Thursday. This followed district in-charge Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi inaugurating some works in Belagavi Rural constituency, that Mr. Patil represents in the Assembly.
Mr. Patil claimed that Mr. Jarkiholi had deliberately neglected him while inaugurating development works under the Chief Minister’s special grant of ₹ 100 crore.
The BJP members sat in dharna at the corporation office seeking action against Commissioner Shashidhar Kurer and other officials. They said that these officials had not invited Mr. Patil to the inauguration of works undertaken with State funds. Mr. Patil termed Mr. Kurer a Congress agent who was following his master’s orders, throwing all rules to the wind. He threatened to move a privilege motion against the Commissioner in the Legislative Assembly.
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Insult
"Mr. Jarkiholi is insulting me by not inviting me to the inauguration. However, when Satish Jarkiholi was the district in-charge Minister, he did not discriminate against between MLAs of his party and those of the other parties. He treated us with respect," Mr. Patil said. Mr. Patil also objected to Congress leader Lakshmi Hebbalkar taking credit for these and other works, which should have gone to him as he was the legislator. “Ms. Hebbalkar has put out advertisements in newspapers saying that she had lobbied with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to release ₹ 100 crore for development works in the rural constituency. She has claimed that she had got Housing Minister M Krishnappa to sanction 900 additional houses for the poor in the constituency. Who is she to say that? Is she an elected representative or a Minister? She is a nobody, and she has no right to claim credit,” he said.
Ms. Hebbalkar, however, was not to be silenced. “I owe a responsibility. My party is in power and I have a natural right to approach the Chief Minister with the grievances of the people of the constituency,” she said.
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She said that Housing Minister Mr. Krishnappa had sanctioned additional houses only after her petition. The Minister had made this clear in his order, she said.
Mr. Jarkiholi later spoke to the protesters over phone and pacified them. He promised Mr. Patil that he would suspend the officials concerned, if protocol was found to have been violated.