Bangalore, Sept 14, 2013 : The State Congress will soon take up assessment of performance of ministers and party legislators on a quarterly basis and forward the feedback to the party central leadership.
When S M Krishna was the chief minister, he used to assess the performance of his Cabinet members, at his home office Krishna, in Bangalore. Later, during the BJP-JD(S) coalition regime, the BJP state president D V Sadananda Gowda along with three central leaders had assessed the performance of the ministers.
However, there was no such exercise during the entire tenure of the BJP government. It is for the first time the KPCC president is planning to conduct the assessment.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president G Parameshwara said he would soon work out the criteria and guidelines for the performance appraisal along with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and AICC General Secretary incharge for Karnataka, Digvijay Singh.
The appraisal will commence from October and the newly constituted district executive committees will provide feedback on the performance of ministers and legislators in the respective jurisdictions. Besides, questionnaires would be provided to the ministers and legislators on the progress of development programmes taken up in their departments or constituencies, Parameshwara said.
“The central leadership has directed to conduct the assessment every three months and send the report to them. AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi will study the reports during his quarterly review of the party performance in each state. It is up to the central leadership to take action against non-performers,” Parameshwara said.
He said the party would also consult experts before arriving at the parameters for the assessment. The broad criteria will include the elected representatives’ interaction with the people and implementation of the programmes of the government.
Disciplinary action
The disciplinary action committee, headed by J Alexander, had issued notices to 450 Congress members for indulging in anti-party activities during the recent Assembly elections in the State.
The party would decide on the nature of action against them after getting their responses, Parameshwara said. He said persons against whom disciplinary action is recommended will not be given any party responsibility nor they would be nominated to boards and corporations.
Lok Sabha polls
The process of shortlisting candidates for the Lok Sabha polls had commenced. District units had shortlisted three or more names for each parliamentary constituency. The state election committee will meet soon and scrutinise the lists and forward the same to the central election committee of the party. The selection process would be completed by December this year. He said the party leadership has decided to follow Karnataka model of shortlisting candidates across the nation.
Parameshwara said he would start touring the State from September 18 to oversee the preparations for the Lok Sabha polls. The party will also take up a campaign to highlight the achievements of the UPA and the State government.
He ruled out the Congress entering into a pre-poll alliance with any party in the State for the Lok Sabha polls.
