Karnataka   

A user-friendly Chief Minister

You have heard of “user-friendly” gadgets and machines but user-friendly politicians?

Well, Higher Education Minister Arvind Limbavali described B.S. Yeddyurappa as “user-friendly Chief Minister” on the occasion of first anniversary of the Bharatiya Janata Party Government in the State.

Mr. Limbavali made the remark while referring to some of the pro-people schemes taken up by the Yeddyurappa Government, triggering a debate on what exactly he meant or whether it was a slip of the tongue.

Whatever it was, it was not a user-friendly term for armchair political analysts.

Who paid the whopping Rs. 20 lakh bill for the grand lunch served for nearly 2,000 employees and officials of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s Revenue Department?

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike is in no great hurry to confess.

Its officials say they neither organised the get-together nor was money spent from its exchequer.

Office-bearers of the Revenue Department Employees Association also refused to disclose the details of payments made to the caterer, who rented space in the Palace Ground for the May 29 bash.

All that was told to the media was that the Revenue Department staff of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike wanted to celebrate the record tax collection.

Such coyness has its consequences: there are whispers amongst the civic body employees themselves of an influential politician and a builder footing the bill.

Mention that you are a crime reporter and you are faced with all sorts of assumptions, mostly that you consort with all sorts of criminals or a wisecrack that you look like a minor Mafioso yourself.

Mostly these impressions evoke the usual ho-hums though occasionally they can be amusing too.

This reporter was at the newly opened Freedom Park where the Old Central Prison used to be.

Having explained park’s features, the curator gestured towards a lifelike clay model of a prisoner in a cell. He turned to this reporter and said, “You are the first person not to look shocked. You seem to be used to seeing people behind bars.” When assured that was indeed the case, he remarked, “You laugh a lot. How do you manage to do it even after covering crime?”

B.S. SATISH KUMAR, KRISHNAPRASAD, RAGHAVA M.

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