Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Jul 8: There have been open demands for appointing someone else as leader of the upper house in Karnataka in place of yesteryear actress, Dr Jayamala. MLC, H M Revanna, has been vociferously demanding appointment of an experienced councillor in the place of Jayamala.
Now, over 25 MLCs from here have written to national president of Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, urging him to include senior members of the legislative council in the cabinet and also appoint them as leader of the house in place of Jayamala. In the letter, they have said that current leader of the house, Jayamala, is not capable enough to handle the criticism and allegations which will be hurled at the government by BJP members. They have pointed out that there are many senior, experienced, and capable Congress MLCs, who can be made ministers and leader of the upper house.
The letter goes on to explain that the union ministry has over 25 Rajya Sabha members, and ten most important portfolios are headed by these people. Maharashtra has nine people from the council, while two positions of deputy chief minister have been given to MLCs, the letter explains, making a strong pitch for unseating Jayamala.
Senior party leaders like V S Ugrappa, H M Revanna, Mohan Kumar Kondajji etc have signed this letter. While they have claimed that they are not opposed to Dr Jayamala becoming a minister, they have insisted that giving her the post of the leader of the house was wrong as leaders who are much senior to her would not like to work under her.
In the past too, a letter had been sent by many Congress leaders to appoint another MLC as minister. That letter was addressed to state Congress in-charge, K C Venugopal, and the then president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, Dr G Parameshwar.
In the meanwhile, it is said that disgruntled MLAs too have decided to write to the party president to expand ministry at the earliest. They want this step to taken urgently so as not to allow JD(S) to take upper hand in the coalition government. They feel that northern Karnataka has been neglected in the budget, and giving a leader from this region the post of minister might help the party to build its fortunes there.