Siddaramaiah's Reply To Questions On IAS Officers' Duty At Opposition Meet

After BJP and JDS questioned the propriety of asking officers to serve leaders attending a political event, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said the assignments were according to the protocol.

The political figures were in Bengaluru to participate in the meeting of the non-BJP parties which the Congress organised.

Saying that the senior officials were assigned only to welcome the visiting dignitaries, the Karnataka CM said that the assignments were according to the protocols.

"As the Chief Ministers of various states and former Union Ministers who arrived in Bengaluru were considered as state guests and according to protocol, officials were assigned only to welcome all those visiting dignitaries," the CM said.

The Opposition JDS and BJP came down heavily on the government, questioning the propriety of asking IAS officers to serve leaders attending a political event.

"This is neither a state government program nor the swearing-in of a new govt. It is just a political meeting. Deputing responsible officers to host its alliance political leaders is a grave injustice done to 6.5 crore Kannadigas and a great insult to the state," JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy said.

"This is a clear violation of All India Services (Conduct) Rules. I was surprised and shocked that officials agreed to do this job knowing that it would dent their self-respect and honour," he added.

However, Siddaramaiah further said that this has been the practice in the past and there is no violation of protocol here.

"The officials were assigned only to welcome dignitaries and they were not used for political programs," he reiterated.

The Opposition parties meeting was scheduled to take place on July 17 and 18 and several leaders of the 26 like-minded parties attend the meeting.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a press release)