From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Jun 11: After the tussle and bitter infighting among the ministerial aspirants of both Congress and JD(S) legislators for getting into the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition ministry and subsequently in being entrusted with key or plum portfolios, some of the ministers got down to business by starting work in Vidhana Soudha, the State Government’s secretarit, in Bengaluru on Monday.
While Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy from the JD(S) and Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara from the Congress held meetings with senior officials, many of the Congress ministers took charge of their official work by attending office.
The third floor of the Vidhana Soudha, which has the State Cabinet meeting hall and the office of the Chief Minister, was in particular abuzz as bureaucrats and political leaders queued to meet Kumaraswamy as well as Ministers and started going through files.
On the first working day after getting portfolios, Water Resources and Medical Education Minister DK Shivakumar, Revenue Minister RV Deshapande, Health and Family Welfare Minister Shivananda Patil, Urban Development Minister U T Khader — all from the Congress, held their first round of meeting with officials of their respective departments.
These meetings assume importance not only for obtaining first-hand information of various activities for the Ministers, but also to provide inputs to the Chief Minister who is preparing his first State budget, which would be tabled in the legislature next month.
Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara, who also holds Home and Bengaluru Development portfolios, undertook a spot inspection of Kaggadasapura and Bellandur lakes and promised to take steps to install sewage treatment plants to check pollution of the lakes.
Dr Parameshwara has already held the first round of interactions with senior government officials as also the top brass of the police.
Meanwhile, Revenue Minister Deshpande reviewed monsoon preparedness of the Revenue Department officials and directed officials to monitor rain-affected areas, which already claimed several lives across the State.
The State has received 54% excess rainfall from March 1 to May 31 and 73% excess since June 1. All districts have received more than normal rainfall till Sunday, he said.
The other ministers are expected to hold detailed review meetings with their respective department officials and even hold media interactions.
The H D Kumaraswamy-led JD(S)-Congress ministry is likely to hold the budget session next month and the Chief Minister, who also holds the finance department, is expected to come out with the coalition government’s full-fledged budget that is likely come out some action on the pre-election manifesto promises of the respective parties in the budget, including the most talked about promise on waiver of farm loans.