Vidhana Soudha -the seat of power- is wearing a deserted look with almost all the ministers busy in campaigning for the Lok Sabha byelections scheduled for August 21.
Having taken two byelections as a matter of prestige, the ruling Congress is leaving no stone unturned to woo voters. The Congress has deputed a majority of its ministers to 16 Assembly constituencies that come under Bangalore Rural and Mandya LS seats. As a result no minister is at Vidhana Soudha or Vikasa Soudha.
People, who come from far flung places to meet the ministers, were returning disappointed as they were busy in campaign.
The ministers, according to sources, were concentrating on Assembly constituencies which were allotted to them by the party bosses to monitor the campaign.
According to party sources, while Home Minister K J George has been made overall in-charge of Bangalore Rural constituency, Public Works Minister H C Mahadevappa has been made in-charge of Mandya Lok Sabha constituency.
Apart from this, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has been given charge of Bangalore South Assembly constituency, Anekal to Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, Rajarajeshwari Nagar to Higher Education Minister R V Deshpande, Ramanagaram to Health and Family Welfare Minister U T Khader and Bangalore Rural to Urban Development Minister Vinaykumar Sorake, Channapatna town to Wakf Minister Qamar ul Islam and Channapatna rural to Textile and Ports Minister Baburao Chinchansur, Kanakapura to Minor Irrigation Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi and Labour Minister P T Parameshwara Naik, Magadi to Agriculture Minister Krishna Byregowda and Kunigal to Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra.
In Mandya Lok Sabha constituency, Malavalli Assembly constituency has been given to Excise Minister Satish Jarkiholi, Mandya to Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Rathnakar and Medical Education Minister Shanaraprakash Patil, Maddur to Water Resources Minister M B Patil, Srirangapatna to Forest Minister B Ramanath Rai, Nagamangala to Public Works Minister H C Mahadevappa, K R Pet to IT, BT Minister S R Patil and Women and Child Welfare Minister Umashree, Melkote to Fisheries, Sports and Youth Services Minister Abhaychandra Jain and K R Nagar to Revenue Minister V Srinivasa Prasad and Cooperative Minister H S Mahadevaprasad. Housing Minister M H Ambareesh, who is district-in-charge minister of Mandya, has been camping in Mandya from the day Congress candidate Ramya filed her nomination papers.
Meanwhile, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H K Patil, Infrastructure and Information Minister Santosh Lad and Small Scale Industries and Muzrai Minister Prakash Hukkeri were busy in the election campaign to three Council seats from local bodies that go to polls on August 22. Patil and Lad were concentrating on Haveri and Dharwad districts to defeat the BJP candidate. JD(S) and KJP have not fielded their candidates in Dharwad and Haveri in support of BJP nominees.