Proposal to gift gold biscuits to MLAs draws flak

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G Parameshwara on Monday opposed the Legislature Secretariat’s proposal to gift each legislator a 13-gram gold biscuit costing Rs 55,000 during the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Vidhana Soudha scheduled to be held on October 25 and 26.
 
The secretariat, which has come under fire for drawing up a Rs 26.87-crore plan to organise the celebrations, also proposes to give away silver plates worth about Rs 6,000 each to its staff.
 
“It’s alright to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Vidhana Soudha, but giving gold biscuits to legislators and silver plates to employees as gifts are unnecessary,” Parameshwara told reporters. 
 
Minister for Science and Technology M R Seetharam, too, echoed the same opinion. “Gifts are okay. But I personally think gold biscuits are not necessary. The proposal needs to be reconsidered and Chief MInister Siddaramaiah will take the final call,” he said.
 
Legislative Assembly Speaker KB Koliwad lost his cool recently when journalists asked why such a huge sum of money had to be spent on the celebrations. He curtly refused to answer.
 
Meanwhile, the plan has drawn sharp criticism from the BJP and JD(S) too.

The Opposition parties, the BJP and the JD(S), have declined to accept the proposed expensive gifts.

The leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar said his party would write to the government opposing the lavish fete. “Rs 26.87 crore is a heavy amount, raising suspicion of misuse of money. There is no need to spend so much, especially when the state has been reeling under natural calamities,” he said.

JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy called it a “loot” in the name of lawmakers.

“What have we as elected representatives achieved to be presented with such expensive gifts? The JD(S) demands that there be minimum expenditure in organising the celebrations. Both the Speaker and the Chairman should have given it a good thought before proposing such a huge budget. It will be a black mark on the legislators if we accept the gifts,” he said.
 
DH News Service