They say the ministers don’t help in constituency-related work, or acknowledge their presence when they visit them at their offices in Mantralaya, not even when told they belong to the party
Four months after coming to power in the state, the legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are upset, because most of the BJP ministers don’t help them in constituency-related work, and treat them with disdain whenever they visit the Mantralaya offices. The legislators have complained to the BJP party high command against the ministers.
State BJP president Raosaheb Danve said the aggrieved MLAs, if any, had not given him any official complaint
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The issue was raised at last week’s conclave of legislators that many senior Centre leaders had addressed at the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini in Uttan, near Mumbai. Several MLAs told mid-day, during the budget session, that they were utterly disappointed with the way they were being treated by most ministers.
“When we visit the ministers at their offices in Mantralaya, they don’t acknowledge our presence. They don’t care even when we tell them that we represent the BJP. The ministerial staff don’t respond to our official letters,” a legislator told mid-day. He requested anonymity, citing the party discipline.
Worried lot
The BJP has 122 MLAs in the 288-member lower house. These legislators have won their seats in four-way fights with the BJP taking on the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena. The MLAs who shared their concerns with mid-day said that the people would vote for them again only if they developed their respective constituencies.
“We won the elections on the party’s developmental plank. Our PM and CM talk of developing the country and the state, but our very own ministers in the state are less bothered about our plight. We will not return to power in the Centre and the state if the BJP government doesn’t help us,” said another legislator.
The MLAs confessed that initially they had thought of writing letters to the chief minister and prime minister, but they chose to express their grievances at the conclave (a training session), which was attended by senior party leaders. The BJP legislators said that the ministers must acknowledge their official letters and put a system in place to track the work in the BJP-held constituencies.
State BJP president Raosaheb Danve told mid-day that the aggrieved MLAs, if any, had not given him any official complaint. “We are just three to four months into the government. I expect our MLAs to tour their constituencies to understand the problems the people face. They should raise their concerns at an appropriate platform, like the legislative sessions,” he said.
Budget session sidelights
>> The first day of the budget session had the media in a big dilemma, as Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao’s address to the joint sitting of the two houses was not tabled in the legislature. Since the speech was not tabled, its copies were not distributed. But, the governor’s office had released the speech. The media heaved a sigh of relief after the legislative secretary clarified that the speech could be reported.
>> The Congress and NCP members carried a victorious look after the state government agreed to table a resolution to pay tributes to the late Govind Pansare, a senior communist leader who was killed by unknown assailants last month in Kolhapur. The opposition leaders used the opportunity to slam the government for not checking violence against leaders and social workers. The speaker had to remind these leaders that they were not debating the state’s law and order situation, but were paying homage to the departed.
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