Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Mar 28: On Tuesday March 28, Karnataka chief minister, Siddaramaiah, being a seasoned politician, took time to brief his ministerial colleagues how to conduct themselves till the assembly election is held and stay clear of unwanted controversies, in view of the fact that election model code of conduct has come into force.

The cabinet meeting on Tuesday was expected to approve certain projects. In view of the announcement of the election by the commission, the meeting confined itself to just ratifying the decisions taken at the earlier meeting.

Siddaramaiah, while exuding confidence that Congress will spring back to power in Karnataka, gave some suggestions to the ministers. He told them about the necessity to be very choosy and careful when delivering speeches or issuing statements. He asked them to desist from making any controversial statements which could harm the party's chances in the election. He also wanted issues between party leaders to be settled among themselves instead of referring them to state level leadership.

The chief minister is learnt to have told his colleagues that anti incumbency factor is not in play in Karnataka now. He asked the ministers to remain upbeat and spread awareness among the people about the people-friendly programmes of the government. He said that district in-charge ministers will have the responsibility to ensure that the party comes out victorious in as many constituencies as possible in their respective districts. He wanted revenue minister, Kagodu Thimmappa, and rural development and panchayat raj minister, H K Patil, to convene a meeting to assess about the drinking water situation in the state in view of increasing temperature and summer season.

Addressing media persons later, law and parliamentary affairs minister, T B Jayachandra, stated that several ministers discussed the issue of worsening drinking water situation in different districts. He mentioned that the issue of drinking water does not fall under the ambit of model code of conduct. He said that the meeting wanted to assess the fund needed to attend to water requirement like supply of water and digging of borewells. He added that the government has also taken up with the centre the need to grant four month extension to state chief secretary, Ratna Prabha, as she is scheduled to retire on March 31. He said that if the centre does not permit extension of her service, then alternative measures would have to be looked into.