Chief Minister Siddharamaiah hosts lunch for officers at a private hotel in city; demands action on administrative delays

Mysuru: Chief Minister Siddharamaiah today invited all the senior officers who participated in the conduct of this year’s Dasara for a lunch at Hotel J.P. Fortune Palace in city.

Though other Chief Ministers have not followed the practice to invite officers for lunch after the successful completion of Dasara, Siddharamaiah has followed this practice which may become a precedent in the future. Even in his earlier term as CM, he used to host lunch for officers and media after the Dasara festival. Today’s lunch opportunity was used by the CM to tell officers to come out of the Dasara mood and attend to their day-to-day administrative responsibilities.

Notably, today’s luncheon follows closely on the heels of the breakfast event hosted by the Chief Minister at his residence in Bengaluru yesterday, which was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar and other Ministers.

Today’s luncheon witnessed the presence of over 100 high-ranking District-level Officers and several MLAs.

Chief Minister Siddharamaiah arrived at the hotel around 1 pm, and the attendance of media and other political leaders was strictly restricted. The luncheon was an exclusive gathering for officers, and prior to the meal, the Chief Minister and District Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa conducted a closed-door meeting.

Many former MLAs and MPs attempted to gain access to the event but were denied entry. Notably, veteran Congress leader, former Union Minister and former Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha K. Rahman Khan was present during the interaction.

Sources informed Star of Mysore that the primary purpose of the meeting was to express gratitude to the officials for the successful execution of Dasara. However, the Chief Minister raised concerns about officials using ‘Dasara work’ as an excuse to delay administrative matters.

Elected representatives had voiced their grievances to the CM, citing that officers were unresponsive to administrative issues and often cited ‘Dasara preparations’ as a reason for their unavailability.

This led to the malfunctioning of essential administrative setups such as the AC Court and Tahsildar Court since the onset of Dasara preparations in September.