Bengaluru: After a humiliating drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections when the Congress could win only 9 of the 28 seats, Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah will have to come up with something stupendous to win the three Assembly seats going to the bypolls on August 21. Two of these seats Bellary and Shimoga were held by BJP leaders B. Sriramulu and B.S. Yeddyurappa while the third, Chikkodi, was held by Congressman and former minister Prakash Hukkeri.
Sources say that it would be well nigh impossible to change the status quo in the three constituencies with Mr Yeddyurappa’s son Raghavendra, Hukkeri’s son Prakash and Sriramulu’s nominee likely to win again. With the bypolls just a month away, the CM has called a meeting on Wednesday which will be attended by senior party legislators, to discuss poll strategies. The meeting is also to see senior legislators bargaining for inclusion in the cabinet and for their share of the appointments to be made to state run boards and corporations.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior leader in the party said, “The byelections will be another litmus test for Chief Minister Siddaramiah and his government.
He can always blame the UPA government at the Centre for the poor show in the Lok Sabha polls.
But the Assembly bypolls are a different ball game where the performance of the state government is sure to come under critical scrutiny. If he can wrest a seat from the BJP, his critics are sure to go on the back foot and he can have a trouble-free tenure at least for the next few months.”
The senior legislators too were waiting for such an opportunity to have a free discussion with Mr Siddaramaiah on cabinet expansion.
“Already MLCs have made their demands clear. We (legislators) will demand that at least 50 per cent of the vacant posts in boards and corporations should be reserved for MLAs including first time MLAs,” the source claimed.
The source added that the main reason behind seeking fair representation for MLAs especially first time MLAs is that the latter should get exposure to administrative processes.
“In the absence of subject committees, the newly elected MLAs need to have this exposure, therefore, the CM will be urged to appoint them to the boards,” the source said.
