Cong may be on back foot at coordination panel meet today

BENGALURU: The JD(S)-Congress government’s coordination committee meeting on Thursday has preparation for the state budget on its agenda. But the recent political drama that has left the H D Kumaraswamy led-coalition government embarrassed, is expected to figure prominently. The Congress has a lot to answer for on the conduct of its legislators at a resort recently, say sources.

“Views on budget, comparison of previous budgets and key inclusions for both parties are up for discussion, but one can’t ignore the recent political developments. The CM is disappointed with the statements made by various Congress MLAs with regard to the Anand Singh incident,” said a source. Anand Singh was  assaulted by MLA J N Ganesh last week at the resort.

The other issue to come up is the long-pending implementation of the SC/ST reservation in promotions, according to Congress sources. Despite there being no stay by the Supreme Court and a letter from former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi asking the state government to go ahead with the implementation of the Karnataka Extension of Consequential Seniority to government servants promoted on the basis of the reservation act, 2017, the Kumaraswamy government has been dilly-dallying over the matter.

Discussion on boards and corporations, especially with respect to the Pollution Control Board, is also likely to come up where the coalition partners will finally decide on a name to replace Chikkaballapur MLA Sudhakar Reddy who isn’t “qualified” for the post.

With Kumaraswamy keen on paying off all dues under his mammoth `46,000 crore farm loan waiver in the February budget this year, Congress leaders will have to be brought on board to make adjustments.The meeting comes at a time when the CM has been holding meetings with individual departments and ministers as part of the preparation for the budget that will be presented months ahead of the LS polls.