'It's fake': Karnataka Congress MLA on 'ministers not cooperating' letter to CM Siddaramaiah

Congress MLA BR Patil has denied that he and ten other MLAs had complained about some ministers in a letter to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, India Today reported on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, India Today reported that eleven Congress MLAs including BR Patil had written to the chief minister saying they were not able to get people's work done as about 20 ministers were not cooperating.

However, Patil, who is an MLA from Gulbarga district, claimed that the letter that had the signatures of 11 MLAs was not from his letter pad. He also sought an investigation into the matter. The Congress leader showed his letterhead and said he keeps serial numbers "so that it doesn’t get misused". "But that letter which is out, doesn’t have any serial number. It’s a fake letter."

Patil claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could have created the fake letter. "Maybe the BJP created the letter. There has to be an investigation into this."

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar also called the letter fake and suspected the hands of the opposition. "Nobody has written any letter. It's just months of the government. It's all opposition created," he said.

However, Congress MLA Basavaraj Rayareddy said that around 30 MLAs had written a letter to the CM about the coordination issues with ministers, India Today reported. In the joint letter that had surfaced, the 11 MLAs said: "We are unable to work as per people’s beliefs. Over 20 ministers are not responding regarding our constituency work."

The MLAs said the ministers were unapproachable and they had to contact a third person to pass on work-related messages. "Because of this, people's aspirations are not being met. Ministers send messages via a third person when we need to discuss funds for projects. We are disappointed that even after being local MLAs, we have to approach a third person for our work," the letter read.

Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah has called a meeting of the Congress Legislative Party on Thursday (July 27)