CMO officials' style of functioning irks Cong MLAs

A group of Congress MLAs is learnt to have lodged a complaint with AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Digvijaya Singh, recently against the style of functioning of some officials in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

A dozen MLAs, many of them Vokkaligas, charged the CMO officials with nepotism and delaying clearing files pertaining to the development of their constituencies. The legislators are learnt to have submitted a written complaint to Singh who was in Bengaluru, accompanying Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on October 9 and 10.

Sources in the party said the legislators had complained against the chief minister’s additional chief secretary D N Narasimha Raju and joint secretary Ramaiah.

 The legislators have accused the CMO officials of favouring only those belonging to certain communities. Many top bureaucrats in the government are upset with the style of functioning of the Chief Minister’s Office and it is, as a result, affecting the administration, the legislators are learnt to have stated in the letter. The CMO officials are sitting on hundreds of files, some of which pertain to industrial investment proposals. The CMO officials are also unnecessarily interfering in the transfer and posting of the government officers, the MLAs are learnt to have charged. However, none of the MLAs was ready to come on record over the complaint.

This apart, Congress MLA from Yeshwantpur Assembly constituency S T Somashekar on Monday met Congress leader B K Hari Prasad and apprised him on the issue of giving a cheque to the family members of a farmer who committed suicide during Rahul’s visit to Mandya. Somashekar, who was given the responsibility of making preparations for Rahul’s visit to Mandya, is learnt to have defended Housing Minister M H Ambareesh on the issue.Former Mandya MP Ramya had taken objection to Ambareesh handing over a cheque given to the farmer’s family to JD(S) MP C S Puttaraju. Ambareesh had given the cheque to the MP and asked him ensure that the money reaches the family. The minister did it with good intention, Somashekar told reporters.