Cong to raise sacking of senate members at panel meet

The Congress has decided to take up the issue of the sacking of syndicate members in universities, appointed by the earlier government, at the next co-ordination committee meeting of the coalition government.

The party will also raise the matter of the H D Kumaraswamy government stopping some of the welfare schemes initiated by the government headed by Siddaramaiah.

Since the Congress is the major partner in the coalition government, the chief minister should not sack the senate members appointed by the previous government or stop welfare programmes without taking the co-ordination committee into confidence, sources in the party told DH.

Many Congress leaders are of the opinion that the chief minister is taking major decisions without consulting the coalition partner. The state leaders are also learnt to have informed AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka. K C Venugopal about this and want the Congress to assert itself in the government.

Recently, Higher Education Minister G T Devegowda sacked all syndicate members appointed by the Siddaramaiah government. The chief minister also told officials to stop the Matrupoorna scheme, to provide food to pregnant women at local Anganwadi centres.

Soon after the coalition government came to power, Siddaramaiah, who is also the chairman of the coordination panel, had written a letter to the chief minister, saying that since the Congress was also a partner in the government, all syndicate members appointed by him should be continued.

Earlier, Siddaramaiah expressed unhappiness over the decision to cut down the quantum of rice given to beneficiaries under the Anna Bhagya scheme. When asked about this, Siddaramaiah said it was the chief minister’s discretion to take decisions.

Siddaramaiah said, “If there are any differences, it will be discussed at the co-ordination committee meeting in two weeks.”