Miffed with fund allocation, BJP MLAs meet Kateel

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, June 21, 2020: A group of 10 BJP MLAs from Dakshina Kannada, Tumakuru, Belagavi and Vijayapura registered their protest against their own government and Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, with party state president Nalin Kumar Kateel.

The 10 MLAs, including Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, Arvind Bellad, Vedavyas Kamath and Bharat Shetty, are said to have raised their concerns at a closed-door meeting with Kateel on Thursday evening.

They spoke about not just lack of grants to their respective corporations from the Urban Development Department, but also a lack of response from the CM, despite several attempts to draw his attention to their woes.

“We aren’t getting any funds for developmental work in urban areas. First, funds were denied due to floods, then bypolls and now Covid-19. But it is unfair when funds are being released for some districts and not for others. It is understandable if none of the districts are receiving funds, but that isn’t the situation. Shivamogga, for example, has been receiving funds under various department heads but our constituencies are not,” pointed out Arvind Bellad, Hubballi-Dharwad West MLA.

The MLAs suggested that they were compelled to knock on the party’s doors after failing to get a positive response from the government, despite meeting Yediyurappa at least thrice. A meeting that began as a forum to review developmental works in districts, turned into a platform to voice the MLAs’ concerns against the government, including disgruntlement over transfer of officials.

The legislators’s primary concern was the delay or stalling of funds up to the tune of Rs 150 crore in each corporation, under the ‘Mahatma Gandhi Nagara Vikas Yojane’. The MLAs hope that appealing to the party will make a difference, and funds are released in a week.

The stalling of funds for developmental works is affecting first-time MLAs more severely, said the miffed MLAs. Barely a few months ago, Congress and JDS legislators had raised concerns over their constituencies not being given funds, but the situation of BJP MLAs too seems to be the same, despite their party being in government.