BENGALURU: Close on the heels of CM Siddaramaiah and his cabinet colleagues attending a dinner hosted by PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi, when DCM DK Shivakumar was abroad on January 2, Home Minister Dr. G Parameshwara will be hosting a dinner for SC/ST legislators at a hotel here on Wednesday.
The MLAs and MLCs from the SC and ST communities, including Jarkiholi, Social Welfare Minister Dr. HC Mahadevappa, and Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna, among others, are part of the ‘mega plan’ to counter Shivakumar, a source told TNIE.
Parameshwara, who was in Malaysia, called the legislators over the phone under the pretext of discussing various issues, including an internal quota for the SC community and organizing the SC/ST communities’ mega rally, and appealed to them to attend the meeting, sources said.
In fact, at the dinner meeting hosted by Jarkiholi, the plan was chalked out as part of a strategy to counter Shivakumar, according to sources. Siddaramaiah also gave the go-ahead to Parameshwara to host the dinner for the SC/ST legislators, they added.
It is, however, to be seen how many of them will turn up. “He had not raised any voice regarding the Rs 39,272-crore SCP/TSP funds earmarked for the welfare of the SC/STs, yet to be released. And the concerned boards and corporations were given a mere Rs 600 crore, of which not a single rupee is being utilized. We are going to question him at the meeting,” an MLA said.