JOIN USChief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday held a meeting with senior Cabinet ministers and is understood to have discussed about, among others, ways to make the administration more effective ahead of the crucial State Congress coordination committee meeting scheduled next week.
Sources said the chief minister wanted to take his ministerial colleagues into confidence before the coordination committee meeting, which will be chaired by AICC general secretary incharge of Karnataka, Digvijay Singh. Siddaramaiah is likely to meet other ministers on Sunday for the same purpose, sources added.
The meeting, which was held at chief minister’s official residence Cauvery, was attended by around ten ministers, including K J George, R V Deshpande, D K Shivakumar, Ramalinga Reddy, H C Mahadevappa, Roshan Baig and Qamar-ul-Islam.
The recent outburst of Legislative Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa against the government and increasing rape cases in the State have dented the image of the ruling Congress. The critics of Siddaramaiah in the Congress may make use of these issues to target him.
Hence the chief minister has been trying to take them into confidence, sources explained. The chief minister is also learnt to have discussed about revamping the Cabinet. He had been of the opinion that there was no need to rejig the Cabinet except filling the four vacancies. A group of senior Congress MLAs had been demanding that the chief minister should reshuffle the Cabinet by showing the door to “under-performing” ministers. These MLAs had petitioned Siddaramaiah on their demands during the recent legislature session.