JD(S) state chief upset over non-inclusion in panel

The coalition coordination and monitoring committee headed by Siddaramaiah will meet on Thursday even as JD(S) state president A H Vishwanath expressed displeasure that he and his Congress counterpart had not been made members yet.

“The coordination committee isn’t complete without the presidents of both parties,” Vishwanath told reporters here. “How can there be coordination between the two parties without the party presidents? You should ask Siddaramaiah this,” he said.

Vishwanath has been pressing for the inclusion of Rao and himself in the committee for a while now. But apparently, committee chairperson Siddaramaiah is not in favour of Vishwanath coming aboard due to their no-love-lost relationship, especially after Vishwanath is said to have worked towards Siddaramaiah’s huge defeat in the Chamundeshwari constituency in the Assembly polls in May last.

Reacting to this, Rao said the decision to include them both was beyond him. “But no meetings are taking place without the presidents. The practice has been that presidents are involved in all major decisions,” he said.

Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, his deputy G Parameshwara, AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal and JD(S) leader Danish Ali are members of the committee, which has met only thrice so far.

Meeting today

The coordination committee is expected to discuss the upcoming budget and the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday.

The committee will look at projects that Kumaraswamy should include in his 2019-20 budget and constituencies that need to be given priority. Also, seat-sharing and joint campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections are likely to come up for discussion, sources said. It is said the committee will take stock of the disgruntlement among legislators.