INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
BENGALURU: Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar Wednesday ruled out allocation of funds during the current financial year for undertaking
development work in assembly constituencies across the state, saying that the government's top priority will be to implement the five
pre-poll guarantees issued by the Congress party.Shivakumar's statement comes a day after a letter from 11 Congress MLAs to chief minister
Siddaramaiah, expressing their displeasure over what they claimed as non-allocation of funds for carrying out development work in their
respective areas, went viral.Shivakumar pointed out that the chief minister in his budget speech had advised all MLAs to be patient."The
previous BJP government has led the state into bankruptcy
We now have the responsibility of correcting their mistakes and arranging funds for our [poll] guarantees," he said.DKS reasoned that since
the government needed to mobilise huge resources to implement the five pre-poll guarantees by the Congress party to the people of the state,
MLAs shouldn't expect to have funds for their respective constituencies - not during this fiscal at least.Even my department, water
resources and irrigation, has not received any funding (in the budget)," Shivakumar said.The CM has called a Congress Legislative Party
(CLP) meeting Thursday reportedly in response to several legislators airing concerns over non-implementation of development work in their
constituencies.The CLP meeting, scheduled to be held at a private hotel, is aimed at addressing grievances at the grassroots level amid
reports of rising discontent among a section of Congress lawmakers
When asked about the accusations against ministers by some Congress MLAs in their letter to the CM, Shivakumar brushed it aside, saying: "We
cannot react to such fabricated letters."Ruling out the reported rumblings of protest within the party, a Congress functionary insisted that
the meeting had been convened to enhance coordination between the government and the party ahead of next year's parliamentary elections
It would also discuss appointments of legislators as heads of various government-owned boards and corporations, he added.On Tuesday,
Siddaramaiah had dismissed speculation of discontent among party MLAs, saying: "We have not had a legislature party meeting for a while
We had scheduled one for July 19, which Rahul Gandhi was also supposed to attend, but it got postponed."He added that one ought to also
consider the fact that the government has been in office for barely two months.However, according to a senior Congress legislator, who
didn't want to be named, several party MLAs and MLCs have expressed their displeasure over their inability to undertake development work in
their constituencies owing to what they claimed as non-cooperation by the ministers
