Karnataka: Shettar Govt groping in the dark for answers

Bangalore: While it is not unusual for a new government not to have all the answers, the Jagadish Shettar administration doesn’t even seem to know where to look for them. The two-week-old Shettar government on Tuesday faced embarrassment in the Assembly as it could not give a reply to 10 out of the 16 questions that came up for discussion during Question Hour. Not just this, the ministers, including the Chief Minister, were clueless about which department should reply to a question whether several recreational clubs in Bangalore came under the BBMP.

Shettar and Co-operation Minister B J Puttaswamy cited the “newness” of the government after reshuffling of portfolios as the reason for deferring replies. But answers to questions asked by MLAs are normally prepared by officials and not by the ministers. Besides, there are only 12 new faces in the Cabinet, and the remaining ministers were in the Sadananda Gowda government. There is hardly any change in the portfolios, with the exception of Shettar, who took charge of the Finance portfolio from Gowda.

Opposition Leader in the Assembly Siddaramaiah wondered why they listed questions that couldn’t be answered during this session. He was reacting to the government’s failure to reply to a question raised by Congress members Tanvir Sait and A Manju. Sait asked whether the government had taken any action based on the two reports on illegal mining. Jagadish Shettar sought time till July 30.

While it isn\'t unusual for a new regime not to have all the answers, they don\'t even know where to look for them.

Another question that caught the government off-guard was whether it was thinking of nominating legislators to various clubs to which huge plots of land had been given. The government didn’t know whether clubs like the Bangalore Club, Karnataka Lawn Tennis Association and Karnataka Golf Association came under BBMP limits.

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