Drought List Puts Karnataka Congress MLAs on the Boil, Shivakumar Calls CLP Meet

Bengaluru, Sept 22 : Discontent is brewing among Congress legislators in Karnataka over the exclusion of several constituencies from the government’s drought-hit taluk list, prompting Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar to call a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting in Bengaluru on Monday evening.

The meeting, scheduled for 7 pm at a private hotel, assumes significance as the ruling Congress faces growing pressure from its own legislators even as a special Assembly session is underway to discuss the drought situation in the state.

Several Congress MLAs are reportedly unhappy that their taluks have not been included in the drought declaration despite what they describe as severe ground-level distress and crop losses. They have also raised concerns over neighbouring taluks being included in the list while their constituencies have been left out.

The issue has acquired political sensitivity as farmers are approaching their respective MLAs seeking explanations and relief. This has placed legislators under pressure to respond to grievances over the exclusion of their constituencies from the drought-hit list.

The CLP meeting is expected to give Shivakumar an opportunity to hear the concerns of party legislators and seek greater coordination within the Congress Legislature Party.

The drought-related discontent comes amid concerns within the Congress over coordination between ministers and legislators. Party leaders K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala have recently stressed the need for better coordination among party leaders and elected representatives.

Meanwhile, the special Assembly session has added to the government’s challenges. The BJP and JD(S) have demanded that the three-day session be extended to 10 days, arguing that all 224 legislators should be given sufficient time to raise constituency-specific drought issues.

The Business Advisory Committee has so far scheduled the session for three days. However, discussions are reportedly underway on extending it by another one or two days to allow legislators more time to raise drought-related concerns.

The government is also likely to face questions on the Kasturirangan report during the session, particularly from legislators representing the Western Ghats region.

Against this backdrop, the CLP meeting is expected to focus not only on the drought declaration and relief measures but also on constituency-level grievances and coordination between Congress ministers and MLAs.

For Shivakumar, the immediate challenge is to address the concerns among party legislators and prevent the issue of the drought list from escalating on the Assembly floor, where the Opposition is already mounting pressure on the government over the handling of the drought situation.