JOIN USCM, legislator spar in public
The atmosphere at the launch of a major health scheme here on Monday turned distinctly unhealthy when an MLA criticised the Chief Minister, only to be severely ticked off by the latter.
The episode took place at the launch of the Vajpayee Arogyashree scheme in the Gulbarga Division. Symbolic of the underlying tensions in the ruling BJP, one of the disgruntled MLAs Chandrashekhar Patil Rewur from Gulbarga South who presided over the function used the opportunity to air his complaints against the CM. Rewur, who had openly associated with the Reddy brothers during the recent dissident campaign castigated the Chief Minister for not involving him in organising the event.
“Yeddyurappa did not take me into confidence. I on my own had taken interest in supervising the arrangements. The Chief Minister is surrounded by only a few people. I cannot run and occupy a seat beside the CM in his car,’’ Patil remarked. “Whenever CM goes to a constituency he should take the MLA concerned into confidence but he is not doing this. This is very bad on the part of Yeddyurappa,” Patil burst out.
Taken aback for a moment, an embarrassed and angry Chief Minister immediately shot up from his seat and berated the MLA to task for crossing the limits of decency and for misusing the forum. “Why are you talking all these things on the open dais? There are forums on which you can discuss things with me. Stop speaking,’’ Yeddyurappa thundered. The MLA finished his speech and took to his seat.
Later, Yeddyurappa conceded that “there may be truth” in whatever Patil had said but it was not the occasion to discuss it. “Whenever I am on tour people complain that I am surrounded by MLAs and ministers. On the contrary, MLAs blame me for not taking them into confidence. Amidst all these, we have to move on and perform,’’ Yeddyurappa said. He reminded the MLA that it was not a party function but the government function. He asked the media not to highlight the issue as “misunderstandings keep occurring.”