Siddaramaiah, ministers go on tours, funds flow gathers pace as polls near

Dates for ZP, TP, Assembly bypolls may be announced next week

 With the announcement of elections to the taluk and zilla panchayats as well as by elections to the Assembly round the corner, the ruling Congress has become ‘generous’ in releasing funds to rural areas in the name of development.

Not just that. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his cabinet colleagues have drawn up hectic tour schedules to launch programmes. In the last few days, Siddaramaiah toured Mysuru and Belagavi.

On Tuesday, he was in Davangere and Bengaluru Rural, while on Wednesday he will be in Bagalkot and later Hassan and Chamarajanagar districts. Wherever he is touring, he is launching development programmes.

For example, Devadurga taluk in Raichur district is going to see the launch of programmes worth about Rs 150 crore before January 11, according to sources in the Congress.

The State Election Commission is scheduled to announce calendar of events for the TP and ZP polls on January 11. Soon after this, the model code of conduct will be in place, restraining the government from announcing and launching new programmes.

Devadurga Assembly constituency will have a byelection following the death of Venkatesh Naik, the sitting Congress MLA, before the end of February.

Keeping this election as well as the panchayat polls in mind, the government has scheduled a series of programmes which will be launched on Sunday.

A sum of Rs 100 crore will be released from the social welfare department for the welfare of SC/STs and minorities in Devadurga taluk of Raichur district. Drilling borewells and disbursing loans to self-help groups will be part of the welfare programme.

The Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited will launch a programme worth Rs 65 crore in the taluk.
Home Minister G Parameshwara is touring many of the North Karnataka districts.
 He was in Hubballi on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he will be touring Manvi, Sindhanur and Raichur to participate in programmes of the police department. Like him, many other ministers are touring districts to launch programmes in a hurry.

 The government could not release funds for nearly a month because of elections to the Council from 25 seats.

The elections to 30 ZPs and 175 TPs (except Sorab) will be held in two phases in January and February.

The byelections to the Assembly have to be held from the Hebbal, Devadurga and Bidar constituencies.