Congress MLAs target Energy, RDPR ministers

The Congress legislators on Wednesday took Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister H K Patil and Energy Minister D K Shivakumar to task on the drinking water and power supply problems in the State.

Participating in the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at Vidhana Soudha, the legislators vent their ire against the RDPR minister on the grounds that adequate steps had not been taken to mitigate the drinking water problem. Though the chief minister had sanctioned necessary funds for drinking water supply, the minister has delayed releasing the funds, the angry legislators added.

Channagiri MLA Vadnal Rajanna, Shivamogga MLA Prasanna Kumar, Bhalki MLA Eshwar Khandre and Ranibennur MLA K B Koliwad were among several legislators who criticised Patil and Shivakumar. “People in the rural areas are getting power supply for only two hours. Mere drilling of borewells will not ensure water supply.

People will not get water from borewells without power supply,” the legislators complained. H K Patil tried to defend himself saying that measures were being taken to supply water in the drought-hit areas. But the members took exception to his reply and demanded that the chief minister should intervene and ensure that the problem was solved. Patil, who was upset with the MLAs, walked out of the meeting in a huff. 

Earlier, Siddaramaiah explained to the CLP members the rationale behind setting up the controversial Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). He said that the Opposition parties were trying to politicise the ACB issue. The aim of the government in setting up the ACB was to clear the confusion in the Karnataka Lokayukta, he added. A booklet on ACB was also distributed to all the members.