BENGALURU: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Saturday that party workers and legislators will get an equal share in appointments to Boards and Corporations.
“Party workers will get their due share in the appointments to Boards and Corporations. All the leaders in the party will sit and discuss this. The list is finalised to some extent. The central leaders have made certain promises that need to be discussed. The list is likely to be finalised by Sankranti,” Shivakumar said.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that through the ‘Government at Your Doorstep’ programme the state government aims to address the grievances of all the 28 constituencies in Bengaluru by January.
“People are coming to our doorsteps with their grievances, we have decided to take the government to their doorstep through the ‘Government at Your Doorstep’ programme,” Shivakumar said.
“Through this programme, we would like to address the grievances of all the 28 constituencies in Bengaluru by January. Two to three assembly constituencies will be covered at a time,” he said, adding that the respective local MLAs and MPs have been invited to participate in the programme.
In response to a question from a reporter about the meeting for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Shivakumar said that he would hold a preparatory meeting with party leaders, MLAs and AICC leaders on January 10.
Asked about his upcoming visit to New Delhi on January 4, the Deputy Chief Minister said, “There is a meeting regarding the Lok Sabha elections.
Ministers have given reports about candidate selection. A survey needs to be done about it. We are going to Delhi to discuss that.”
On a question about the cheque bounce case of Minister Madhu Bangarappa, he said, “Things happen in business. I will look into it.”
Shivakumar also said that Rs 1000 crores have been allocated for minorities to improve their livelihoods.
“I will take you to Ramanagara, you can see for yourself the condition of the minorities. This decision has been taken to improve their livelihoods. If Rs 1000 crore is divided among 224 assembly constituencies, it is not much. Minorities mostly live in urban areas and they don’t have the benefit of MGNREGA scheme. There is nothing wrong in it,” he said.
Speaking on the criticism by the Bharatiya Janata Party alleging that this Rs 1000 crore fund allocation for minorities is a case of ‘minority appeasement’, he said, “Let them keep complaining and we will continue to work for the poor.”
On his recent meeting with Chandrababu Naidu, Shivakumar said that it was a courtesy meeting and that he met the former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister at the airport.
“I did not go to Andhra Pradesh to meet him. I happened to meet him at the airport. It was a courtesy meeting,” he said. (ANI)