BENGALURU: In an effort to build his an image of an “accessible” chief minister, Basavaraj Bommai began his Thursday meetings with BJP legislators with 35-40 MLAs primarily from Bengaluru, Tumakuru and Chitradurga districts having one-on-one and group discussions.
The Thursday meetings are being scheduled by BJP chief whip and Bommanahalli MLA Satish Reddy who claimed that the CM spent as much as three to four hours in giving a patient hearing to the legislators.
As an immediate focus on the IT-BT capital of the country, CM Bommai heard out the demands of the party legislators from the city who had serious financial concerns to carry out development works and asked for the new Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) laws to be implemented fully in the city.
It may be recalled that under former chief minister B S Yediyurappa, legislators had complained that the BJP patron was “inaccessible” and was not giving them time to hear about their concerns.
Soon after becoming the CM, Bommai also suffered a lot of criticism during the legislature party meetings that he was running the government under the shadow of Yediyurappa and not hearing the problems of the legislators.
With the complaints gaining traction and the rumours of another rebellion brewing within the party, the BJP state executive committee decided to impress upon CM Bommai to hold the weekly dedicated Thursday meetings for the BJP legislators to meet him.
However, CMO officials suggest that the Thursday meetings are not restricted to only BJP legislators but for even the opposition parties MLAs.
“It is open for all legislators to come and meet him at his official residence. However, today only BJP MLAs had come,” said an official.
