CM not available,Chidambaram cancels K’taka tour

Reacting to a Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) statement about the Chief Minister not making himself available for a meeting on the security scenario with Chidambaram,the Karnataka Government claimed that the Chief Minister had deputed Home Minister V S Acharya for the talks on Saturday but the MHA cancelled the meeting on hearing this.

Acharya said the Chief Minister had briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the internal security scenario in January this year and sought several interventions which the UPA Government had failed to fulfill.

“The Chief Minister conveyed to the Home Ministry in advance that he will not be present. It was conveyed that the Home Minister will attend instead. It is unfair to politicise the issue,” Acharya said.

MHA had first requested the state to organise the review meeting on March 4. Chidambaram was slated to hold this meeting with Yeddyurappa and senior state officials. However,with the Karnataka Government saying that the date was not convenient,MHA asked the state to suggest an alternative date. The state Government suggested March 5 as the new date which was accepted by the Home Minister.

However,two days before the scheduled meeting the Karnataka Government conveyed to the MHA that March 5 was not convenient to the Chief Minister. Accepting this,the MHA again requested the state Government to suggest another date.

On March 4,the Karnataka Government suggested March 7 as the date for the meeting,which was again accepted by the Home Minister. MHA officials said the meeting was slated to be held between 8.15 am and 10.15 am at Bangalore on March 7. Chidambaram’s tour programme was prepared accordingly and conveyed to the Government of Karnataka,said MHA officials.

But hours before Chidambaram was about to leave Mumbai for Bangalore on Friday evening,a message was received from the Karnataka Government that the Chief Minister would not be able to attend the meeting on March 7. “The reason given was that the Chief Minister intended to go to his constituency,” the MHA statement said.

Yeddyurappa,on his part,said he was disappointed by the cancellation of the Home Minister’s tour. “Earlier the meeting was fixed on March 4 and was postponed to March 7 on the advice of the MHA. The state Government had even prepared a memorandum. Acharya was back in the capital after cancelling all pre-schedule programmes. However,the MHA cancelled the tour,” he said.