BELAGAVI: Unhappy with the apparent regional imbalance in the state cabinet, senior BJP MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal has appealed to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to immediately convene a legislature party meeting. “It is essential to hold a meeting to discuss the opinions of all MLAs in the backdrop of regional imbalance,’’ he said.

Yatnal told media persons at Vijayapura that the government has already allotted funds generously to the constituencies of all newly-elected MLAs, who have now become ministers. In the upcoming budget, the government must ensure equal allocation of funds to the constituencies of the other 105 party MLAs, he said.“Leaders of all communities should be taken into confidence while forming the state cabinet, and if needed, some ministers should be ready to make sacrifices,” he said.

Yatnal asked what will MLAs from areas like Hyderabad-Karnataka and parts of Mumbai-Karnataka do if only MLAs from Bengaluru and Belagavi regions are inducted into the cabinet. “To run his government effectively, Yediyurappa must take all his MLAs into confidence,” he said.

Yatnal said that the CM should listen to the appeals made by MLAs, such as Appachu Ranjan, Angar, Rajugouda, Dattatreya Patil and Nehru Olekar, and hold a meeting on the issue.