Miffed berth seekers may skip session

Bengaluru: The 10-day winter session of the state legislature will begin at the Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi from Monday.

The session is being held at a time when Congress legislators are miffed over the delay in filling up the party’s quota of six vacancies in the council of ministers with some of them unlikely to participate actively in the deliberations. It may not be surprising if ministerial aspirants among Congress legislators skip the Belagavi session to vent their anger against the leadership.

 The cabinet expansion is being postponed for one reason or the other  much to the displeasure of senior Congress legislators like Mr H.K. Patil,  Mr Ramalinga Reddy,  Mr M,B. Patil and  Mr B,C. Patil who feel that their seniority had been ignored by the high command. These senior leaders may not skip the session but may maintain a low profile to show their anger. The biggest task for Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwar will be to  keep his party MLAs together at least during the next ten days.

Former CM Siddaramaiah, who is also the CLP leader, is unlikely to participate in this week's session as he would be out of the country to participate in a friend 's marriage. In his absence,  the responsibility to ensure compulsory attendance of disgruntled MLAs will fall on KPCC President Dinesh Gundurao and Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar. Mr Siddaramaiah is likely to take part in the session next week. Meanwhile, a fresh cold war has broken out between the coalition partners- Congress and Janata Dal  (Secular) over the post of chairman of the Legislative Council. While the JDS wants protem chairman and senior member Basavara Horatti to continue in the post, the Congress wants the post to go to Mr S.R. Patil on the ground that they have a majority in the Upper House.  

Mr Siddaramaiah had reportedly promised Mr Patil the Council chairman post in recognition of the role he played in the former CM’s victory in Badami Assembly constituency in May this year.

Unnerved by this, former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda has reportedly told Mr Horatti not to worry as he plans to talk with Congress President Rahul Gandhi on the matter. This has angered Congress members of the Upper House who feel the party is succumbing to the pressure of the Janata Dal (Secular). This matter is likely to be solved soon as Mr Gowda is not in favour of an election to the chairman's post.