25 Congress MLAs set to travel to Australia-New Zealand study tour amid Karnataka power tussle

Bengaluru: Amid the ongoing power tussle between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, 25 Congress MLAs, said to be loyal to the chief minister, are set to travel to Australia and New Zealand on an official study tour from February 18 to March 3.

The delegation, led by Animal Husbandry Minister K Venkatesh, comprises C Puttaranga Shetty, Raghavendra Hitnal, H D Thammaiah, Hampanagouda Badarli, B Devendrappa, B M Nagaraja, Yashwantarayagouda Patil, J T Patil, Allamaprabhu Patil, Basavanagouda Daddal, AR Krishnamurthy, N H Konareddi, and Basanagouda Turuvihal, among others.

Amid rising frustration among the public over rising prices, a state-funded foreign tour has understandably triggered outrage.

Although the chief minister clarified that it was a private tour that the government was not footing the bill for, the legislators claimed that the visit was being arranged by the Department of Animal Husbandry.

The delegation is expected to return to India before the commencement of the budget session of the state legislature. 

“The MLAs are going abroad on a tour by themselves. Can I ask them not to go?” asked Siddaramaiah. Confirming the plan, Congress MLA Puttaranga Shetty said, “We will be going to Australia and New Zealand on a study tour arranged by the Animal Husbandry Department. The minister (Venkatesh) is taking all of us, and we will be back before the start of the budget session.” 

The legislators have written to the secretariat seeking a no-objection certificate, which is a mandatory requirement for elected representatives travelling abroad. 

Amid speculation of the Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar camps taking to ‘resort politics’ to keep their respective flocks together, the departure of a sizeable number of legislators identified with the chief minister’s camp has raised eyebrows. 

Meanwhile, Shivakumar has landed in New Delhi after having reminded both the chief minister and the Congress high command about the ‘secret’ power-sharing pact that the concerned parties agreed to after the victory in the 2023 Legislative Assembly polls.