BENGALURU: Disgruntled Congress MLAs’ meeting to discuss the ‘worsening political scenario’ in the state was the last thing the Congress or its coalition partner JD(S) would have wanted, that too ahead of the May 19 bypolls for two assembly segments. But in a big relief to the party, the ‘like-minded’ legislators have called off their Tuesday meeting.
But the issue is not over yet. Congress MLA and Chairman, Bengaluru Development Authority, ST Somashekhar, who had called the meeting, said they ‘postponed’ the meeting as the MLAs were busy with the bypolls, and that the next date for the meeting “will be decided after a few days”.Although Somashekhar claimed there was no pressure on them to call off the meeting, sources close to Siddaramaiah said he convinced the MLAs against going ahead with Tuesday’s meeting.
Somashekhar reiterated that he is neither a rebel, nor a disgruntled MLA, and the meeting was not against Congress or the CM. “It was called to discuss issues and bring them to the government’s notice. What is the point if we are not able to work effectively for the people? As the chairman of BDA, don’t I need to work for the people?” he asked.
Sources said Congress MLAs, including heads of boards and corporations, were unhappy with the alleged discrimination by the chief minister. Somashekhar and other like-minded MLAs are seen as Siddaramaiah camp followers and the former CM knew about the meeting. However, when the situation was threatening to get out of control and showed an inclination of impacting the bypolls to cause embarrassment to the allies, Siddaramaiah and other top leaders stepped in to convince the MLAs against the meeting.
Speaking to reporters in Hubballi, Siddaramaiah said there are no differences within the party and the meeting was called off after KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao asked them not to meet now as the elections were going on.Siddaramaiah downplayed the meeting by terming it as a “get-together to discuss issues” in their constituencies.
Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara and minister DK Shivakumar too have defended their party MLAs by saying there was nothing wrong in them meeting.According to sources, the main agenda of the meeting was to discuss alleged discrimination by the government towards Congress legislators and heads of boards and corporations. “They are being discriminated and JD(S) leaders get preference. Their grouse is mainly against the CM and not against Congress leaders,” a source said.