Bengaluru: What began as a plan for a 15-day tour of 14 Congress legislators to Australia and New Zealand to “study” animal husbandry practices has now emerged as a political flashpoint, giving the Opposition fresh ammunition to question the Karnataka government’s spending and priorities.
The “educational tour” between 16 February and 3 March was planned nearly two months ago, those in the delegation said, adding that it entailed visits to the picturesque pastures of the two countries.
The leaders would have returned just in time for the Karnataka Budget in the first week of March.
With questions over the need for spending taxpayers’ money on legislators’ junkets doing the rounds, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the legislators were going to the Oceanic countries with their pocket money. The government, he emphasised, was not funding the trip.
Karnataka Animal Husbandry Minister K. Venkatesh has now confirmed that no such tour had been organised by his department.
“Some of us decided to go on our own. But it was not from the department. There is no money for anything. How can we go on a tour now?” Venkatesh said when contacted by ThePrint.
Some MLAs presented a different version, though.
“Venkatesh told us that we should go on the trip. He didn’t tell us that we had to foot the bill ourselves,” said a Congress leader in the delegation of legislators, requesting anonymity. This account contradicts Venkatesh’s public statement, leading to confusion about the funding and authorisation of the trip.
On Wednesday, C. Puttarangashetty, a senior leader and incumbent chairman of Mysore Sales International Limited (MSIL), had told reporters, “We are going on an educational trip under the animal husbandry department
Probably, we are going to get some information on animal husbandry. 20-22, some are coming with families, some of us are going on our own.”
Going by his comments, the Opposition attacked the Siddaramaiah-led Karnataka government for prioritising foreign trips of legislators, even as the state goes through an acute funds crunch.
Most of the 14 legislators, including K. Venkatesh, are considered close confidants of Siddaramaiah. This has further fuelled speculation that the Chief Minister may be attempting to placate his loyalists amid reported differences with his deputy.
‘Can’t afford a foreign trip’
In a letter addressed to the legislative secretary—dated 30 January—Congress MLA H.D. Thammiah asked for a ‘No Objection Certificate’ as well as a grant of leave for the trip.
Several legislators were seen alongside Puttarangashetty when he discussed the trip before the media, but almost all of them have since explained that the senior colleague misstated things.
B.M. Nagaraj, the Congress MLA from Sirguppa, told ThePrint that it was a “privately-funded trip” and that he was taking his family along. “The trip is confirmed…There is no part of the government in it,” Nagaraj told ThePrint Thursday.
He added that Puttarangshetty wanted to convey that there were good practices of animal husbandry in Australia-New Zealand and that they would pick up lessons on the tour.
His senior colleague, he said, misstated things, emphasising that there was nothing wrong with MLAs wanting to go on their own, if they could afford it.
The Opposition will not let this go so easily, though.
“The animal husbandry minister is taking MLAs on a foreign tour. Previously, foreign tours using government money were stopped,” R. Ashoka, the Leader of Opposition, told reporters Thursday. “If a tour is to happen, members from all parties are included in the delegation. If the minister is taking them along, how did the government give permission? Who is spending the money—for this—needs to be disclosed.”
According to the Opposition, the bigger picture in all this is the fight between the CM and his deputy over power-sharing.
Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who met the Congress high command in Delhi Thursday, against the backdrop of his differences with Siddaramaiah, however, said power tussles are not something out of the way.
“We have not discussed that issue [power sharing]. The party has its own goals. Our leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge would take a suitable decision, keeping in mind the interests of the party, state, and the country. The media is giving it a different colour, but this is not special for us,” he told mediapersons.
He said that he was not aware of the proposed overseas trip to be undertaken by some of his party colleagues. “I am not going to talk about it; it is between the MLAs and the CM. I don’t know what guidelines the CM has given them. I am not aware of this. No one has informed me about it; I learned about it from the media.”
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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The MLAs already have PhDs in corruption, there is nothing left for them to study. The police dogs in Australia and New Zealand airports should not allow them to pass through.