Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah's Parting Gift? ₹50 Crore Sanctioned For Each Congress Legislator Amid Leadership Tensions

Bengaluru: What it looks kike a parting gift, Karnataka Chief Minister has sanctioned Rs 50 crore each to all the Congress legislators in the State.

After suffering a setback while trying to implement internal reservations based on caste surveys in the state, Siddaramaiah has drawn flak from the party high command over the MLAs openly voicing concern over a lack of funds for developmental works, as the government is spending all the money on its favorite 'Bhagya' free schemes.

Meanwhile, AICC General Secretary Ranadeep Surjewala is visiting Bengaluru on Monday, where he has scheduled a meeting with Congress legislators separately, which indicates the forthcoming change in State leadership.

After the internal bickering in the party came to the fore last week in the form of his close associate B R Patil venting his ire against Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed and other legislators like Raju Kage and Beluru Gopalakrishna joining the rebellion, Siddaramaiah went to Delhi. Though Siddaramaiah had appointments with the President, Prime Minister, and Finance Minister, his core team comprising Sathish Jarkiholi, Basavaraj Rayareddy, K N Rajanna, and others accompanied him. Sane day, Rahul Gandhi was expected to return from abroad, and his team wanted to convince Rahul Gandhi to continue Siddaramaiah for the entire term. However, Rahul Gandhi did not return, and Siddaramaiah held a meeting with AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge and General Secretaries K C Venugopal and Surjewala.

Even before Siddaramaiah could say anything, the three, in a scuttled way, said that Delhi may need Siddaramaiah's services soon.

The second issue they raised up was the complaints by Congress MLAs on the non-availability of funds for constituency developmental works.

While maintaining silence over the first issue, Siddaramaiah promised to do something about the legislators' complaints. After his return, the first thing Siddaramaiah did was to hold a meeting with B R Patil and directed the Finance Secretary to release Rs 50 crore each to every Congress MLA constituency and consider some of the developmental applications represented by other party MLAs.

This is the second setback for Siddaramaiah in the last month, who has always enjoyed unconditional support from Rahul Gandhi ever since he joined Congress in 2008. Last month, Rahul Gandhi himself had asked Siddaramaiah to hold back the implementation of the 'caste survey report' based on internal reservations.

Soon after their return from Delhi, Siddaramaiah associates -- Sathish Jarkiholi, Rajanna, and Zameer Ahamed told the media that there would be big changes by October-November. However, no one was ready to say what kind of change it would be. However, on Saturday, Surjewala started sending messages to each Congress MLA, giving them appointments to meet him on Monday in Bengaluru.

However, on Monday, both the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister have a program in Mysuru, Offering 'Bagina' (auspicious materials) on the eve of KRS dam water level reaching the maximum. When the CMO contacted Surjewala to inform him about the program, Surjewala dismissed it and said that he would be meeting the MLAs independently.

Now, the biggest question in the political circle is whether Siddaramaiah would inaugurate Dasara or not, which would start on October 2.