CM Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM Shivakumar hold meetings with finance, police department officials

BENGALURU: A day after he ordered stoppage of further release of funds to all departments, boards and corporations for works ordereed by the previous BJP government, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday held a meeting with Finance Department officials at the Karnataka State Finance Corporation (KSFC) office in Vasanthnagar.

The CM obtained information from the officials on the present financial situation of the state, revenues and expenditure. He also directed them to prepare a roadmap for the rollout of the Congress guarantees.

Later in the day, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar held a meeting with senior police officers, including newly-appointed DG&IGP Alok Mohan and city police commissioner Pratap Reddy, at the Vidhana Soudha.

“Law and order should be maintained and the law should be the same for everyone irrespective of their status. Rowdyism should be curtailed and in case of breach of law, the jurisdictional DySPs, SPs will be held responsible”, they told the police brass.

The police were directed to prevent any incident that may breach peace in society and were assured of a free hand, provided that it is not misused. There should be no scope for communal clashes and traffic should be streamlined, the officers were told.

The CM and Deputy CM also directed the police to monitor night clubs and to crack down on drugs and other illegal activities. They also directed the police to register suo motu cases against those posting defamatory posts on social media. They also highlighted that more number of cases were registered against Congress leaders for violation of the Model Code of Conduct while fewer cases were registered against BJP leaders.

Deputy CM Shivakumar also lambasted the police officers saying that they were trying to saffronise the force. “How can police officers wear saffron shawls in Mangaluru? You should have come with saffron shawls to this meeting too. Our government will not allow such things. If an ADGP-level officer is involved in the PSI recruitment scam, it lowers the dignity of the police force. We will not tolerate it and we need you to do good work, we don’t need your money”, he said.

“For four years, we have seen how the police conducted themselves and how you have behaved with me and Siddaramaiah. There was a move to eliminate him, but you did not even register a case in this connection. You have worked enough for the BJP and now is time to do some good work as the people have faith in this government”, he warned.