BENGALURU/ CHIKKABALLAPUR: The Congress government, in a surprise move, has shifted the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's cabinet meeting scheduled to be held at the famous Nandi Hills in Chikkaballapura district on June 19 (at 12 noon) to Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.
Preliminary reports suggest that the government was afraid of the mago growers' ire as they (farmers) had a plan to stage a protest at Nandi Hills during the cabinet meeting, under the JD(S) party leadership.
To save face, the government decided to shift the cabinet meeting at the eleventh hour.
"Since a few decisions in the development front, including the announcement, remained inconclusive, the government decided to shift the cabinet meeting, but it will be rescheduled at Nandi Hills soon", claimed official sources.
The government is facing the heat of mango growers of Chikkaballapura and Kolar districts, as they were demanding the Minimum Support Price of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 for their produce.
The prices crashed due to the ban of Karnataka mangoes in Andhra Pradesh, as the 'totapuri' variety had more water content.
CM Siddaramaiah had written to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu requesting the latter to lift the ban, but it went in vain.
On June 17, the JD(S) MLAs Samruddhi Manjunath of Mulabagilu and Venkatashiva Reddy of Srinivasapura constituency had staged dharna at the Gandhi statue on the premises of Vidhana Soudha in protest of the government ignoring the demands of mango farmers.
They, along with farmers and JD(S) party workers, had a plan to picket CM and his cabinet colleagues during the cabinet meeting at Nandi Hills.
They also planned to raise certain issues, including the delay in the implementation of the Ettinahole project for the region, according to sources. Notably, the district administration had done all preparations for the meeting to be held atop Nandi Hills..