In fresh trouble for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, eleven Congress MLAs have written to him saying they are not being able to get people's work done as about 20 ministers are not cooperating, India Today reported on Tuesday. "We are unable to work as per people’s beliefs. Over 20 ministers are not responding regarding our constituency work," Congress MLA from Gulbarga district, BR Patil, along with 10 others, wrote to CM Siddaramaiah. The MLAs said the ministers were unapproachable and they had to contact a third person to pass on work-related messages. "Because of this, people's aspirations are not being met. Ministers send messages via a third person when we need to discuss funds for projects," the legislators wrote. "We are disappointed that even after being local MLAs, we have to approach a third person for our work."
The MLAs also mentioned that their recommendations for the transfer of officials were not being taken seriously and that no official was listening to them. "Our recommendation letters for officials’ transfers are not being considered. No official is listening to us," they said, urging the chief minister to immediately intervene.
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The Congress returned to power in May this year after bagging a whopping 135 of 224 seats. However, after the victory, Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar engaged in a power tussle over the top post. While Siddaramaiah got the top job, Shivakumar settled with the Deputy CM post. Reports suggest that Shivakumar relented as he was assured of the chief minister post after 2.5 years. However, Siddaramaih's supporters are pushing him to continue for the full tenure.
Last month, Shivakumar took a dig at Siddaramaiah, saying the latter was scared when it came to building the 'steel bridge' in Karnataka. He said Siddaramaiah backed down from a project due to fear of public backlash and that if it were him, he would not have budged and gone ahead with the project.
Shivakumar's remarks did not go down well with some Siddaramaiah supporters but they tried to play down the statement. State minister Priyank Kharge said Siddaramaiah was not scared but was sensitive to public opinion. He said the chief minister was sensitive to public opinion. "Sometimes, false narratives get floated and good decisions are delayed."
(With inputs from Nagarjun Dwarakanath)