Congress legislators unhappy with Siddaramaiah

They want him to interact with them on a regular basis

Ruling Congress legislators are learnt to have expressed displeasure over Chief Minister Siddaramaiah allegedly failing to interact with them on a regular basis, at the Congress Legislature Party meeting here on Tuesday.

According to sources, some of the legislators alleged that the CLP meeting had been convened only to fulfil a formality.

Understanding the mood of the party legislators, Mr. Siddaramaiah reportedly assured them of convening the CLP meeting on a regular basis and addressing their grievances.

At the CLP meeting, the Congress legislators are learnt to have expressed displeasure over the performance of the Ministers.

A few legislators are learnt to have complained that the Ministers were not taking them into confidence but expected them to defend the government in the legislature session. The CLP meeting, which lasted 40 minutes, is expected to continue on Wednesday.

According to sources, the legislators observed that the government would have gained the sympathy of farmers by transferring the benefit of rebate on value added tax for sugar, to sugarcane growers.

Sugar factories benefit by Rs. 396 crore because of concessions. If the benefit had been transferred to sugarcane growers, they would have not staged protests during the session. “The sentiments of the legislators were communicated to the Chief Minister at the meeting and he agreed to consider the suggestions,” said a legislator on the condition of anonymity.

When Minister of State for Agriculture Krishna Byre Gowda tried to clarify that the government had shown concern to sugarcane farmers by offering better prices than that given by the BJP dispensation for sugarcane, a senior legislator reportedly wondered why he did not make this clarification forcefully at the session when the issue was debated on Monday.

It is said that Mr. Siddaramaiah also did not mince words to express dissatisfaction over the alleged lethargic attitude of some of his Cabinet colleagues.

However, the sources said, legislators supported Mr. Siddaramaiah’s stand on the Bidai scheme and asked him not to yield to the pressure tactics of the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa who is staging a dharna in the Assembly since Monday.