The Hindu : Karnataka News : Talks with Sonia on Ministry expansion soon: Dharam Singh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 16, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Talks with Sonia on Ministry expansion soon: Dharam Singh

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, SEPT. 15. The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, today said he would discuss the issue of Ministry expansion with the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, during his visit to New Delhi to attend a meeting convened by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

He told presspersons here after inaugurating the Dairy Circle flyover that the meeting was scheduled for Saturday 18, and he was leaving for New Delhi on Thursday. The Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, who came to the venue of the function almost an hour before Mr. Dharam Singh, left when the latter arrived.

Tense moments

An incident before the Chief Minister arrived had the audience and the authorities on tenterhooks: a lighted cracker fell on a table near Mr. Siddaramaiah's seat, and the tablecloth caught fire. Mr. Siddaramaiah and others doused the fire.

Mr. Siddarmaiah said a hurricane had affected the Kannada Sahitya Sammelan organised by the America Kannada Kootagala Association (AKKA), which he attended in Florida, U.S., recently. "Everything went off well, but for the hurricane, which troubled us for two or three days."

Consultation

Our Mysore Staff Correspondent reports:

Addressing presspersons in Mysore, Mr. Dharam Singh said Mr. Siddaramaiah would be consulted before the Ministry expansion exercise was initiated.

He said that though a date could not be fixed for the Ministry expansion, it would be done very soon. He said: "Mr. Siddaramaiah has returned from his foreign tour only now. We will sit together and decide on the expansion.'' There were no differences of opinion between the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular), and the Opposition was unnecessarily raking up the issue. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which was utilising resources and time on former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharthi's "Tiranga Yatra" (Tricolour procession), was criticising the Government for no reason, he added.

Discussions with Gowda

Mr. Siddaramaiah said the president of the Janata Dal (S), H.D. Deve Gowda, would be consulted before the Ministry expansion. He said the World Bank had responded positively on the question of release of $ 200 million for structural reforms in the State. The meeting with bank officials had been fruitful, he added.

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