Siddaramaiah’s yes to empower local bodies

BENGALURU: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has virtually forced his party government in Karnataka to implement recommendations of a committee headed by former Speaker Ramesh Kumar on empowerment of rural local bodies.

At a meeting of gram panchayat members held here on Friday, Mr Gandhi almost forced Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to announce the government’s intention to implement the report of the committee.

In the presence of senior leaders and gram panchayat members, events unfolded swiftly in such a manner that Mr Siddaramaiah had no choice but give his consent. The Chief Minister, who spoke ahead of Mr Rahul Gandhi, said his cabinet would discuss recommendations made by the committee in its next meeting.

When Mr Gandhi addressed the meeting, however, he summed up: “I heard that this committee has made a lot of recommendations to empower panchayat raj bodies. The Congress is committed to strengthening democracy. We are not like the party which is ruling the country now. One Prime Minister’s office wants to rule the country through select bureaucrats. We are for decentralisation. We walk the talk.”

Next, he turned to Mr Siddaramaiah and asked if he would accept recommendations made by the committee or not. Left with no choice, particularly after Mr Gandhi lauded the recommendations made by the committee, Mr Siddaramaiah nodded in affirmation.

Surprisingly, the report which was put in cold storage after the recent gram panchayat elections, could get a new lease of life now. Of the 80-odd recommendations, the government picked up only four or five which were convenient to the dispensation, and discarded the others. One of the members of the committee, social activist Nandana Reddy had to wage a lone battle but to no avail.  Mr Siddaramaiah, in his address, attacked the BJP and in particular former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.

“It was during his term that farmers were killed in Haveri. What moral authority does he have to speak about farmers? Does he understand the woes of farmers? The BJP spreads canards against the Congress government. I would like to request you to go back and tell people what the BJP wants to do. The BJP wants to do away with reservation. We have to expose this hidden agenda," he added.

Party leader in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said the NDA government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had slashed the subsidy under 63 programmes. All these programmes were meant to help the poor and the common man.