The much publicised meeting of the members of Parliament from Karnataka convened here on Sunday to discuss the issue of injustice to locals in railway recruitment, fizzled out with only four of the 40 MPs from the State turning up on the occasion.

Nevertheless, the meeting convened by journalist Patil Puttappa, decided to hold another meeting of the State MPs in New Delhi on March 3 to discuss the issue.

Despite being an all-party meeting, only four BJP MPs Prahlad Joshi, Suresh Angadi, P C Gaddigoudar and G Karunakara Reddy were present.

Puttappa disclosed that when he called Kanakapura MP Tejaswini Gowda (Congress) and invited her for the meeting, she flatly declined stating that Congress MPs would not attend if MPs from other parties were present.
The meeting was called to chalk out the future course of action to pressurise the Union government, especially the Railway ministry, to give priority to locals in recruitment of Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ employees in the Railways.

Fireworks
Even though Sunday’s meeting was inconclusive, there were fireworks with Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) members having a wordy duel with the MPs, alleging that the latter had done nothing for Kannadigas.
Commotion prevailed at the venue for some time. However, the MPs claimed that they had pressurised the Union government on various issues relating to their constituencies and the State. However, their claims had no takers.