Karnataka   

What a toll

A tragedy can take a toll on other people also, including policemen. This can be seen in the way the lawmen react to questions by reporters.

The hooch deaths in Devarajeevanahalli police station limits threw up an uncomfortable situation for this reporter. After running around in the sun, shuttling between hospitals and the affected areas listening to harrowing stories, this exhausted reporter went to the jurisdictional police station. A senior police official was camping there. On entering his chamber, it soon became evident the reporter was unwelcome. To a question, the official, who gave the reporter a once over, said: “Sit down, you cannot stand like this and ask questions.” Thereafter not many words were spoken though there was a good deal of stonewalling.

The absence of a popular government seems to have increased the burden on a very few individuals holding high offices in the State.

One such VIP happens to be Lokayukta Justice N. Santosh Hegde, who has been addressing a large number of people on governance in the recent times, and has been receiving invitations to attend functions from many associations and organisations. At a function of the Bank of Maharashtra Officers’ Association on Sunday, Mr. Hegde said: “Acute shortage of VIPs in the State in the absence of a popular government is causing burden on people like me.” To the organisers, who expected him to talk on the sub-prime crisis in the U.S. and problems for banking industry in India, Mr. Hegde said that he was not competent to comment on such issues as he only knew the basic banking transactions.

BJP stands for the Bharatiya Janata Party. But in Bellary district, BJP stands for something different, according to former Union Minister and senior Congress leader V. Sreenivas Prasad. Participating in a panel discussion on exit polls conducted a private Kannada television channel after the second phase of the Assembly elections, Mr. Prasad took a dig at fellow panellist and BJP leader S. Suresh Kumar by stating that BJP stands for “Bharatiya Janardhan Reddy Party” in Bellary. What he meant was that the BJP was under the complete control of mine baron Janardhan Reddy in Bellary. Even as other panellists burst into laughter, Mr. Suresh Kumar shot back at Mr. Prasad and asked him whether he could make a similar reference to the Congress in Bellary by terming it as “Anil Lad Congress.” The Congress has fielded Mr. Anil Lad, also a mine baron, from the Bellary constituency against Mr. Janardhan Reddy’s younger brother G. Somashekar Reddy.

SHARATH S. SRIVATSA, RAGHAVA M. AND

K.V. SUBRAMANYA

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What a toll

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