BENGALURU: Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi met pourakarmikas in the Gandhinagar constituency- the bastion of Congress working president Dinesh Gundu Rao. During the short interaction that lasted a little more than 15 minutes, Rahul Gandhi chose to break protocol, refused to take the dais and chose to stand throughout the meeting.
Pourakarmikas shook Rahul’s hand while clicking photos. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao BBMP Mayor Sampath Kumar were in attendance. “The Karnataka government has done away with the system of middlemen and contractors. We now appeal for permanent job status to pourakarmikas,” said Oblesh, member, Safai Karamchari Kavulu Samiti. He, however, told Express that the civic workers were disappointed with the interaction.
“We were asked to put across our problems to Rahul Gandhi but were neither given the time nor the opportunity to tell him that the government’s policies to help civic workers is only on paper,” he said. Deeming Karnataka’s move to eliminate contractors and ensuring direct payment to civic workers as first of its kind, Rahul assured to emulate the same across the country once Congress comes to power. ENS