Cabinet Meetings On The Move: Governance Or Political Spectacle?

By all standards of reason, accountability, and public finance, the Karnataka government’s recent practice of holding cabinet meetings at far-flung and symbolically loaded locations like Male Mahadeshwara Hills and Nandi Hills is a gross misstep. Not only is it administratively redundant, it is fiscally reckless at a time when the state is grappling with a deepening resource crisis.

Cabinet meetings are not ceremonial events. They are executive deliberations meant to take well-informed policy decisions based on comprehensive inputs, departmental notes, legal advice, and inter-departmental coordination. The very purpose of holding them at the Vidhana Soudha — a stone edifice not just of architectural grandeur but of logistical preparedness — is to ensure efficiency, formality, and institutional memory. Shifting these meetings to remote or religiously significant hilltops is an exercise in optics, not in outcome.

The government claims that such meetings “take the cabinet to the people” or help ministers “feel the pulse of the region.” But no direct public interaction takes place at these events. The cabinet meets behind closed doors, flanked by bureaucrats and security, in a setting not conducive to either spontaneity or efficiency. Worse, the cost of staging these sessions — including the movement of files, IT equipment, internet backbones, vehicles, furniture, and personnel — runs into lakhs, if not crores. Who foots the bill? The taxpayer.

This extravagance becomes even more offensive when seen in the light of the state’s precarious finances. The government has been vocal about a resource crunch: contractors haven’t been paid, crucial welfare schemes are delayed, and new infrastructure projects are being shelved. Against this backdrop, organizing high-altitude cabinet meetings appears not just out of touch, but bordering on insensitive. The money squandered here could well have been redirected to distressed sectors like rural healthcare, crumbling school buildings, or irrigation projects left incomplete.

Contrast this with the cabinet meetings held in Belagavi during the legislature’s winter session. There, a second seat of government has been created, complete with permanent infrastructure. Ministers and staff are already present. Files are processed as they would be in Bengaluru. The purpose is clear, the precedent is solid, and the cost is justifiable. The same cannot be said of recent "offsite" meetings which resemble executive tourism rather than governance.

One must also ask: where is the voice of reason within the system? Have the senior officers no say? Do ministers not realize that such theatrics erode the credibility of their governance? Who will tell the emperor that his journey to the hills is costing more than it’s worth — and who among his entourage will dare speak the truth?

In a democracy, optics matter — but only when they’re backed by substance. Governance is not a photo opportunity. It is a daily, disciplined act of balancing competing priorities, using scarce resources judiciously, and keeping public interest paramount.

Karnataka does not need cabinet meetings under temple domes or hill canopies. It needs a cabinet that meets in earnest, deliberates with integrity, and governs with restraint — not one that prefers performance over prudence, and stagecraft over statesmanship.